BJ's Restaurants' (BJRI) Hold (C) Rating Reiterated at Weiss Ratings

Key Points

• BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) received a "hold (c)" rating from Weiss Ratings, indicating a neutral stance on the stock amidst mixed analyst opinions.
• Recently, some analysts upgraded their ratings on BJ's Restaurants, with Benchmark increasing its rating to "buy" and setting a price target of $44.
• BJ's Restaurants reported earnings of $0.97 per share, surpassing estimates, and saw a revenue increase of 4.5% year-over-year, totaling $365.6 million for the last quarter.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold (c)" rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Weiss Ratings in a research report issued on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Benchmark raised shares of BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of BJ's Restaurants from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, September 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.67.

BJ's Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of BJRI traded up $0.31 on Wednesday, reaching $31.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 250,697 shares, compared to its average volume of 456,662. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $687.93 million, a P/E ratio of 26.13, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.34. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $32.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.23. BJ's Restaurants has a 12-month low of $28.92 and a 12-month high of $47.02.

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

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 transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Jacob Guild sold 9,521 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.51, for a total transaction of $338,090.71. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 3,803 shares in the company, valued at $135,044.53. This trade represents a 71.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 15,458 shares of company stock worth $545,656. Insiders own 4.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of BJ's Restaurants

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nomura Holdings Inc. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 863,749 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 6.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 824,597 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $36,777,000 after purchasing an additional 51,062 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 233.6% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 628,445 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $28,029,000 after purchasing an additional 440,078 shares during the period. Emerald Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 2.6% during the second quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 593,478 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $26,469,000 after purchasing an additional 15,151 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 5.2% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 523,687 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $23,359,000 after purchasing an additional 25,892 shares during the period. 99.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.