BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Given New $70.00 Price Target at Citigroup

Key Points

• Citigroup lowered its price target for BJ’s Restaurants from $75 to $70 while maintaining a “neutral” rating, implying roughly 23% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: BJRI has a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $56.50, despite recent upgrades from Mizuho and Benchmark.
• BJRI shares fell 3.5% to $56.75 in Friday trading. The company recently exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $0.94 in EPS on $388.9 million in revenue.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) had its price target dropped by analysts at Citigroup from $75.00 to $70.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "neutral" rating on the restaurant operator's stock. Citigroup's price objective points to a potential upside of 23.35% from the company's previous close.

BJRI has been the topic of several other research reports. Mizuho upgraded BJ's Restaurants from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. Zacks Research cut BJ's Restaurants from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 15th. Benchmark lifted their price objective on BJ's Restaurants from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. DA Davidson set a $65.00 target price on BJ's Restaurants in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, William Blair raised BJ's Restaurants from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $56.50.

BJ's Restaurants Stock Down 3.5%

NASDAQ BJRI traded down $2.04 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $56.75. 264,554 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 426,205. BJ's Restaurants has a 52-week low of $28.46 and a 52-week high of $74.60. The firm has a market cap of $1.21 billion, a PE ratio of 30.35, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.22.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.04. BJ's Restaurants had a net margin of 2.86% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The business had revenue of $388.89 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $377.07 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that BJ's Restaurants will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Kendra Miller sold 2,978 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.80, for a total transaction of $207,864.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 25,621 shares in the company, valued at $1,788,345.80. This represents a 10.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director C Richmond purchased 500 shares of BJ's Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $61.05 per share, with a total value of $30,525.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 36,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,228,325. This represents a 1.39% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 67,784 shares of company stock worth $4,648,326. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 275.9% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,936 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $111,000 after purchasing an additional 1,421 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the second quarter valued at $505,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new stake in BJ's Restaurants in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Arizona State Retirement System bought a new stake in BJ's Restaurants in the 2nd quarter worth about $275,000. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in BJ's Restaurants in the 2nd quarter worth about $220,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.95% of the company's stock.

About BJ's Restaurants

BJ's Restaurants, Inc NASDAQ: BJRI operates and develops casual dining restaurants under the BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse brand. Its restaurants offer a broad menu centered on deep-dish pizza, along with appetizers, salads, sandwiches, burgers, entrees, desserts and other American-style dishes.

The company is also known for producing and serving craft beer, including its proprietary BJ's beers, at many of its locations. Its restaurants typically combine full-service dining with a brewery-inspired atmosphere and offer dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering services, depending on the location.

BJ's traces its origins to 1978, when the first restaurant opened in Southern California.

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