BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Barclays Analyst Says

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) had its price target lifted by research analysts at Barclays from $33.00 to $37.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “underweight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Barclays‘s target price suggests a potential downside of 7.59% from the company’s previous close.

BJRI has been the topic of several other reports. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 price target on BJ’s Restaurants and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised BJ’s Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.00.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Up 2.9%

NASDAQ BJRI opened at $40.04 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $885.68 million, a PE ratio of 42.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.56. BJ’s Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $27.61 and a fifty-two week high of $47.02. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $43.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $347.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $347.70 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 10.35% and a net margin of 1.64%. The business’s revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BJ’s Restaurants news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 3,738 shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.32, for a total transaction of $165,668.16. Following the transaction, the insider owned 4,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,941.28. The trade was a 44.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Greg Trojan sold 146,102 shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.63, for a total value of $6,520,532.26. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 19,896 shares in the company, valued at approximately $887,958.48. This trade represents a 88.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in BJ’s Restaurants in the 1st quarter worth approximately $254,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,502,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 3,594.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,670 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $468,000 after purchasing an additional 13,300 shares during the period. Emerald Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 583,828 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $20,513,000 after purchasing an additional 14,607 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 36,076 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,268,000 after purchasing an additional 5,722 shares during the period. 99.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.