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

Key Points

• BJ's Restaurants, Inc. has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from eight analysts, with a target price averaging $39.67 over the next year.
• Recent selling activity by insiders includes significant transactions from SVP Heidi Rogers and CAO Jacob Guild, who reduced their holdings by 36.55% and 71.46%, respectively.
• Institutional investors have notably increased their stakes in BJ's Restaurants, with Nomura Holdings and Arrowstreet Capital raising their positions by 103.2% and 233.6% in recent quarters.

BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the eight analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given 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 $39.6667.

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of BJ's Restaurants in a research note on Wednesday. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Benchmark upgraded shares of BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of BJ's Restaurants from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, September 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th.

Insider Buying and Selling at BJ's Restaurants

In other BJ's Restaurants news, SVP Heidi Rogers sold 4,116 shares of BJ's Restaurants stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.36, for a total value of $145,541.76. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $252,611.84. The trade was a 36.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Jacob Guild sold 9,521 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was 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 approximately $135,044.53. This trade represents a 71.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 15,458 shares of company stock worth $545,656. 4.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BJRI. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased 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 worth $58,269,000 after acquiring an additional 863,749 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased 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 worth $28,029,000 after acquiring an additional 440,078 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new position in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the second quarter worth about $13,380,000. JCP Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the second quarter worth about $5,575,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the second quarter worth about $4,771,000. 99.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BJ's Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of BJRI opened at $29.54 on Friday. BJ's Restaurants has a 1-year low of $28.92 and a 1-year high of $47.02. The stock has a market cap of $653.42 million, a PE ratio of 24.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.34. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $32.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.11.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $365.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $362.74 million. BJ's Restaurants had a net margin of 1.99% and a return on equity of 11.73%. BJ's Restaurants's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.72 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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.

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.