Marshall Wace LLP Makes New $1.20 Million Investment in BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI)

Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 34,055 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $1,196,000. Marshall Wace LLP owned 0.15% of BJ's Restaurants as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Walleye Capital LLC boosted its stake in BJ's Restaurants by 86.6% during the 4th quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 12,392 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $435,000 after purchasing an additional 5,751 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,502,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 147.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 259,977 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $9,134,000 after buying an additional 155,109 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in BJ's Restaurants by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 33,417 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,174,000 after buying an additional 2,743 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC acquired a new stake in BJ's Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $418,000. Institutional investors own 99.95% of the company's stock.

BJ's Restaurants Price Performance

BJ's Restaurants stock traded up $0.71 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $38.62. The company's stock had a trading volume of 36,961 shares, compared to its average volume of 357,380. BJ's Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.61 and a 12 month high of $41.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market capitalization of $861.84 million, a PE ratio of 56.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.78. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $33.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.15.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $347.97 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. Analysts anticipate that BJ's Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Gordon Haskett upgraded BJ's Restaurants from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $36.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer cut shares of BJ's Restaurants from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, BJ's Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $38.25.

BJ's Restaurants 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.