Russell Investments Group Ltd. Has $467,000 Stock Position in BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. $BJRI

Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) by 14.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,617 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after buying an additional 1,732 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.06% of BJ’s Restaurants worth $467,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in BJ’s Restaurants during the 1st quarter worth approximately $254,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 3,594.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,670 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $468,000 after buying an additional 13,300 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in BJ’s Restaurants during the 1st quarter worth approximately $310,000. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in BJ’s Restaurants during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,350,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 18.9% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 36,076 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,268,000 after buying an additional 5,722 shares during the period. 99.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BJRI. Barclays upped their price target on BJ’s Restaurants from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on BJ’s Restaurants from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen raised BJ’s Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 16th. Finally, Benchmark raised BJ’s Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BJ’s Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.67.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock opened at $33.56 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $742.35 million, a PE ratio of 28.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.37. BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.89 and a 52 week high of $47.02. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $38.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $365.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $362.74 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 1.99%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.72 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at BJ’s Restaurants

In other news, SVP Heidi Rogers sold 4,116 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.36, for a total value of $145,541.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,144 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $252,611.84. This represents a 36.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Jacob Guild sold 9,521 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.51, for a total value of $338,090.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $135,044.53. This represents a 71.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

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.