BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Shares Gap Up After Strong Earnings

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) gapped up prior to trading on Friday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $33.49, but opened at $35.58. BJ’s Restaurants shares last traded at $36.85, with a volume of 290,057 shares traded.

The restaurant operator reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.20. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 8.76% and a net margin of 1.23%. The business had revenue of $347.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $347.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BJRI. Wedbush upped their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Gordon Haskett raised BJ’s Restaurants from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer cut shares of BJ’s Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.25.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BJRI. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,242,137 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $43,642,000 after purchasing an additional 78,852 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 837,031 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $29,409,000 after acquiring an additional 161,495 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 699,434 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $24,575,000 after acquiring an additional 79,512 shares during the period. Emerald Advisers LLC increased its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 583,828 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $20,513,000 after acquiring an additional 14,607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC increased its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 28.4% during the fourth quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 416,709 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $14,641,000 after acquiring an additional 92,285 shares during the last quarter. 99.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BJ’s Restaurants Trading Up 13.2 %

The company has a market capitalization of $846.00 million, a PE ratio of 55.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.04. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $33.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.15.

BJ’s Restaurants Company Profile

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.