Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Grows Stock Holdings in BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. $BJRI

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) by 233.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 628,445 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 440,078 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned about 2.84% of BJ’s Restaurants worth $28,029,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BJRI. Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 103.2% during the first quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 1,700,780 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $58,269,000 after buying an additional 863,749 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in BJ’s Restaurants in the 2nd quarter worth about $3,499,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 10.6% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 773,535 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,501,000 after purchasing an additional 74,101 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 49.8% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 191,882 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,574,000 after buying an additional 63,751 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP grew its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 13.4% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 410,289 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $14,057,000 after purchasing an additional 48,455 shares in the last quarter. 99.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Zacks Research cut shares of BJ’s Restaurants from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a report on Friday, October 31st. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BJ’s Restaurants news, VP Alex Puchner sold 1,821 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.06, for a total transaction of $62,023.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 10,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $361,785.32. This trade represents a 14.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Performance

NASDAQ BJRI opened at $37.21 on Friday. BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $28.46 and a 1-year high of $47.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $33.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.90. The company has a market capitalization of $786.62 million, a P/E ratio of 27.77, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.31.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.05. BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 2.23% and a return on equity of 12.92%. The firm had revenue of $330.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $335.86 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.13) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BJ’s Restaurants announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, October 30th that authorizes the company to buyback $75.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to buy up to 11.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.