BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $38.75.

A number of research analysts have commented on BJRI shares. Zacks Research cut BJ’s Restaurants from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a report on Friday, October 31st. Barclays boosted their price target on BJ’s Restaurants from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Mizuho raised shares of BJ’s Restaurants to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Friday, October 31st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BJ’s Restaurants news, VP Alex Puchner sold 1,821 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.06, for a total value of $62,023.26. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 10,622 shares in the company, valued at $361,785.32. The trade was a 14.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 4.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of BJ’s Restaurants

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BJRI. Penn Capital Management Company LLC purchased a new position in BJ’s Restaurants in the third quarter valued at about $369,000. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,959,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 58.4% in the 3rd quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 54,284 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,657,000 after purchasing an additional 20,024 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 1,618.3% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,031 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 419.4% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 128,691 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,929,000 after buying an additional 103,914 shares in the last quarter. 99.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ BJRI opened at $38.35 on Friday. BJ’s Restaurants has a 1 year low of $28.46 and a 1 year high of $47.02. The business has a 50-day moving average of $33.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.12. The company has a market capitalization of $810.53 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.32.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.05. BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 1.99% and a return on equity of 11.73%. The business had revenue of $330.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $335.86 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.13) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, 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 authorized a share buyback plan on Thursday, October 30th that permits the company to buyback $75.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 11.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.