BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $36.65, but opened at $35.36. BJ’s Restaurants shares last traded at $36.44, with a volume of 24,961 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BJRI has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer lowered shares of BJ’s Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.00.

BJ’s Restaurants Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $35.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market cap of $809.32 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 2.10.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported ($0.13) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $325.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $324.97 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 2.24% and a return on equity of 7.98%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.16) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BJ’s Restaurants news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 2,313 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.60, for a total value of $82,342.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,068.40. This trade represents a 30.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BJ’s Restaurants

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BJRI. Quarry LP boosted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 764.9% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 813 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 142.9% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,540 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 906 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 247.8% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,864 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 1,328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new position in BJ’s Restaurants during the third quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

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 under brand name Pizookie. The company was formerly known as Chicago Pizza & Brewery, Inc and changed its name to BJ’s Restaurants, Inc in August 2004.