Brokerages Set BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) PT at $37.20

Shares of BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Reduce" from the seven brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $37.20.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on BJRI shares. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 target price on BJ's Restaurants and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays upped their target price on BJ's Restaurants from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st.

Insider Activity at BJ's Restaurants

In other BJ's Restaurants news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 3,738 shares of BJ's Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.32, for a total value of $165,668.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,579 shares in the company, valued at $202,941.28. The trade was a 44.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Greg Trojan sold 146,102 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.63, for a total transaction of $6,520,532.26. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,896 shares of the company's stock, valued at $887,958.48. This represents a 88.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 4.30% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BJ's Restaurants

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nomura Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 103.2% during the 1st quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 1,700,780 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $58,269,000 after buying an additional 863,749 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in 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 in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth about $4,502,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in BJ's Restaurants by 60.3% in 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 buying an additional 104,490 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 28.4% during the fourth quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 416,709 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $14,641,000 after acquiring an additional 92,285 shares during the period. 99.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BJ's Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of BJ's Restaurants stock traded up $0.01 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $44.83. 843,641 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 369,915. BJ's Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $27.61 and a fifty-two week high of $45.22. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $34.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $991.46 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.47.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $347.97 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $347.70 million. BJ's Restaurants had a net margin of 1.23% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The company's revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that BJ's Restaurants will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.