Wall Street Zen Upgrades BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) to “Buy”

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on BJRI. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Mizuho raised BJ’s Restaurants to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on BJ’s Restaurants from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.75.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock opened at $33.96 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $751.20 million, a P/E ratio of 28.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.99. BJ’s Restaurants has a 12 month low of $28.46 and a 12 month high of $47.02.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.05. The business had revenue of $330.16 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $335.86 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 1.99%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.13) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BJ’s Restaurants announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to repurchase $75.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to purchase up to 11.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Jacob Guild sold 9,521 shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.51, for a total value of $338,090.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,803 shares in the company, valued at approximately $135,044.53. This trade represents a 71.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Alex Puchner sold 1,821 shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.06, for a total value of $62,023.26. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 10,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $361,785.32. The trade was a 14.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 15,458 shares of company stock worth $545,656. 4.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in BJ’s Restaurants in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,501,000. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust grew its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust now owns 323,573 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $9,879,000 after purchasing an additional 7,500 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH grew its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 7,879 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 33,389 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,019,000 after purchasing an additional 1,905 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants during the 3rd quarter valued at about $456,000. 99.95% of the stock is currently 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.