BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Receives Average Recommendation of "Reduce" from Analysts

BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Reduce" from the seven research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $37.20.

A number of analysts have recently commented 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 report on Friday, May 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 price objective on BJ's Restaurants and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Greg Trojan sold 146,102 shares of the 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 transaction, the director directly owned 19,896 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $887,958.48. This represents a 88.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 3,738 shares of the firm's 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 transaction, the insider owned 4,579 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $202,941.28. This represents a 44.94% 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.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ's Restaurants

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BJRI. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 863,749 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,242,137 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $43,642,000 after acquiring an additional 78,852 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 773,535 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $26,501,000 after purchasing an additional 74,101 shares during the last quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 583,828 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $20,513,000 after purchasing an additional 14,607 shares during the period. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC lifted its stake in BJ's Restaurants by 28.4% in the 4th quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 416,709 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $14,641,000 after purchasing an additional 92,285 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.95% of the company's stock.

BJ's Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of BJRI stock opened at $46.78 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.39. BJ's Restaurants has a 52 week low of $27.61 and a 52 week high of $47.02. The company's 50 day moving average price is $42.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.35. The company has a market capitalization of $1.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.56.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 1.64% and a return on equity of 10.35%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. On average, 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.

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