Brokerages Set BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Target Price at $38.30

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $38.30.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Benchmark boosted their price target on BJ’s Restaurants from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. TheStreet upgraded shares of BJ’s Restaurants from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Barclays raised their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup upped their price target on BJ’s Restaurants from $28.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st.

BJ’s Restaurants Trading Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ:BJRI opened at $33.30 on Friday. BJ’s Restaurants has a 52 week low of $21.64 and a 52 week high of $38.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.03. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $34.49 and its 200-day moving average is $32.92. The firm has a market cap of $778.65 million, a P/E ratio of 33.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 2.12.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $337.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $335.35 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 6.51% and a net margin of 1.80%. The business’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.15 EPS. Equities analysts expect that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Alex Puchner sold 7,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.25, for a total value of $295,022.25. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 12,222 shares in the company, valued at approximately $467,491.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, major shareholder Fund 1 Investments, Llc sold 242,000 shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total transaction of $8,598,260.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,326,476 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,659,692.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Alex Puchner sold 7,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.25, for a total transaction of $295,022.25. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 12,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $467,491.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 298.7% in the 4th quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 141,556 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,097,000 after purchasing an additional 106,054 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 102.9% during the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 124,838 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,495,000 after acquiring an additional 63,299 shares during the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in BJ’s Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,199,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 21.0% during the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 296,176 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,716,000 after buying an additional 51,364 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millrace Asset Group Inc. purchased a new stake in BJ’s Restaurants during the third quarter valued at about $1,200,000. 99.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About BJ’s Restaurants

BJ's Restaurants, Inc owns and operates casual dining restaurants in the United States. Its restaurants offer pizzas, craft and other beers, appetizers, entrées, pastas, sandwiches, specialty salads, and desserts. The company was formerly known as Chicago Pizza & Brewery, Inc and changed its name to BJ's Restaurants, Inc in August 2004.