BJ’s Wholesale Club Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:BJ)

BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BJ) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Investors bought 5,479 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 151% compared to the typical volume of 2,179 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BJ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on BJ’s Wholesale Club from $87.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $123.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Argus raised shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on BJ’s Wholesale Club from $102.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $110.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BJ’s Wholesale Club news, Director Robert Allan Steele sold 11,813 shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.59, for a total transaction of $1,270,960.67. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 24,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,619,924.09. The trade was a 32.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP William C. Werner sold 14,192 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.64, for a total transaction of $1,669,546.88. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 26,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,071,933.32. The trade was a 35.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 326,405 shares of company stock worth $37,201,232 over the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of BJ’s Wholesale Club

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,268,889 shares of the company’s stock valued at $470,775,000 after buying an additional 504,958 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its stake in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,331,379 shares of the company’s stock valued at $387,009,000 after acquiring an additional 43,106 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,571,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $229,808,000 after purchasing an additional 73,322 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,486,903 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,205,000 after purchasing an additional 99,311 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 2,330,361 shares of the company’s stock worth $208,218,000 after purchasing an additional 245,731 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.60% of the company’s stock.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Stock Performance

BJ opened at $120.01 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $109.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $97.93. BJ’s Wholesale Club has a 52-week low of $71.81 and a 52-week high of $120.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.14 and a current ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.80 billion, a PE ratio of 28.85, a PEG ratio of 4.50 and a beta of 0.54.

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.07. BJ’s Wholesale Club had a return on equity of 35.41% and a net margin of 2.71%. The company had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.29 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BJ’s Wholesale Club will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About BJ’s Wholesale Club

BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc engages in the operation of membership warehouse clubs. Its product categories include grocery, household and pet, television and electronics, furniture, computer and tablets, patio and outdoor living, lawn and garden, baby and kids, toys, home, health and beauty, appliances, and jewelry.