BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Trading Down 4.8% on Insider Selling

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI)’s stock price traded down 4.8% during mid-day trading on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $42.55 and last traded at $42.69. 87,729 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 378,371 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.83.

Specifically, Director Greg Trojan sold 146,102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.63, for a total transaction of $6,520,532.26. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,896 shares in the company, valued at approximately $887,958.48. The trade was a 88.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 3,738 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.32, for a total transaction of $165,668.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 4,579 shares in the company, valued at $202,941.28. The trade was a 44.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BJRI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays raised their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.20.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $947.01 million, a PE ratio of 62.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.47. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.53.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $347.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $347.70 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 1.23% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BJRI. Nomura Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 103.2% during the 1st quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 1,700,780 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $58,269,000 after acquiring an additional 863,749 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 147.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 259,977 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $9,134,000 after purchasing an additional 155,109 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in BJ’s Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at $4,502,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 60.3% during the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 277,874 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $9,763,000 after purchasing an additional 104,490 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC grew its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 28.4% in the 4th quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 416,709 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $14,641,000 after buying an additional 92,285 shares in the last quarter. 99.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.