BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Reduce" by Brokerages

BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Reduce" from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $37.20.

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

Insider Transactions at BJ's Restaurants

In other news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 3,738 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 4,579 shares of the company's stock, valued at $202,941.28. The trade was a 44.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Greg Trojan sold 146,102 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $887,958.48. This represents a 88.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of BJ's Restaurants

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,902 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in BJ's Restaurants during the first quarter worth $69,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in BJ's Restaurants during the first quarter worth $97,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in BJ's Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $108,000. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System bought a new stake in BJ's Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $200,000. Institutional investors own 99.95% of the company's stock.

BJ's Restaurants Trading Up 1.3%

NASDAQ BJRI traded up $0.57 during trading on Friday, reaching $43.80. 484,549 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 378,379. The firm has a market cap of $968.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 64.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.58. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $38.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. BJ's Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $27.61 and a fifty-two week high of $45.80.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $347.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 quarterly revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. Analysts predict that BJ's Restaurants will post 1.5 EPS for the current 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.