BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Upgraded to "Buy" at Benchmark

Key Points

• BJ's Restaurants has been upgraded by Benchmark from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating, with a price target of $44.00, indicating a potential upside of 28.77% from its previous close.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.97, exceeding expectations, with a revenue of $365.60 million, marking a 4.5% year-over-year increase.
• Insider trading activity was noted, with Director Greg Trojan selling 146,102 shares for over $6.5 million, leading to a significant decrease in his ownership stake.

Benchmark upgraded shares of BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $44.00 price objective on the restaurant operator's stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on BJRI. Barclays upped their price objective on BJ's Restaurants from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 price objective on BJ's Restaurants and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut BJ's Restaurants from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, BJ's Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.67.

BJ's Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BJRI traded down $0.52 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $33.64. The stock had a trading volume of 555,009 shares, compared to its average volume of 432,012. BJ's Restaurants has a twelve month low of $27.61 and a twelve month high of $47.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $743.98 million, a PE ratio of 28.27, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a 50 day moving average of $41.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.11.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $365.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $362.74 million. BJ's Restaurants had a net margin of 1.99% and a return on equity of 11.73%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. Research analysts predict that BJ's Restaurants will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Greg Trojan sold 146,102 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.63, for a total value of $6,520,532.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 19,896 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $887,958.48. The trade was a 88.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 3,738 shares of BJ's Restaurants stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.32, for a total transaction of $165,668.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 4,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,941.28. This trade represents a 44.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ's Restaurants

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 863,749 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 147.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 259,977 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $9,134,000 after acquiring an additional 155,109 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in BJ's Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $4,502,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its stake in BJ's Restaurants by 60.3% during the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 277,874 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $9,763,000 after purchasing an additional 104,490 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC increased its holdings in BJ's Restaurants by 28.4% during the 4th quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 416,709 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $14,641,000 after purchasing an additional 92,285 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.95% of the company's stock.

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.