Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Increases Stock Position in BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Free Report) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,242,137 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 78,852 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 5.44% of BJ's Restaurants worth $43,642,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,902 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in BJ's Restaurants by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 110,833 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $3,894,000 after purchasing an additional 1,752 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp grew its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 126,771 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $4,454,000 after buying an additional 1,771 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 7.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 27,284 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $888,000 after acquiring an additional 1,823 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 33,417 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,174,000 after acquiring an additional 2,743 shares in the last quarter. 99.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on BJRI shares. Barclays boosted their price target on BJ's Restaurants from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wedbush lifted their price target on BJ's Restaurants from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 target price on shares of BJ's Restaurants and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $37.20.

BJ's Restaurants Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of BJRI stock traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $38.61. The stock had a trading volume of 91,927 shares, compared to its average volume of 363,335. The firm has a market capitalization of $861.62 million, a PE ratio of 56.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.47. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $33.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. BJ's Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.61 and a 52-week high of $41.72.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $347.97 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $347.70 million. BJ's Restaurants had a return on equity of 8.76% and a net margin of 1.23%. The company's revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. Equities analysts expect that BJ's Restaurants, Inc. 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.