6,590 Shares in BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Purchased by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 6,590 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in BJ’s Restaurants during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants in the second quarter valued at about $41,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants in the third quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants in the third quarter valued at about $67,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Fund 1 Investments, Llc sold 242,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total transaction of $8,598,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 2,326,476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,659,692.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Fund 1 Investments, Llc sold 242,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total value of $8,598,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 2,326,476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,659,692.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Alex Puchner sold 7,713 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.25, for a total transaction of $295,022.25. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly 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 company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on BJRI. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a report on Friday, February 16th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $28.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $37.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BJ’s Restaurants has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.30.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of BJRI stock opened at $32.10 on Monday. BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $21.64 and a one year high of $38.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.42. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $34.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $751.14 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 2.12.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The restaurant operator reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.07. BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 1.47% and a return on equity of 5.45%. The firm had revenue of $323.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $331.03 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.17 earnings per share. BJ’s Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

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