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

Key Points

• BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) has a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from analysts, with varying ratings including two sell, three hold, and two buy recommendations.
• The company's stock performance showed a recent 12-month price objective of approximately $39.67 and an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.97, exceeding management's expectations.
• Insider trading activity includes significant sales from SVP Heidi Rogers and CAO Jacob Guild, indicating a decrease in their stock positions, with currently 4.30% of the stock held by corporate insiders.

BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the seven research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $39.6667.

Several equities analysts recently commented on BJRI shares. Piper Sandler increased 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. Wall Street Zen raised shares of BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 price objective on shares of BJ's Restaurants and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays increased 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. Finally, Benchmark raised shares of BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, August 4th.

BJ's Restaurants Stock Performance

NASDAQ BJRI opened at $34.34 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $759.60 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.59. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $40.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.02. BJ's Restaurants has a 1 year low of $27.89 and a 1 year high of $47.02.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $365.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $362.74 million. BJ's Restaurants had a net margin of 1.99% and a return on equity of 11.73%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that BJ's Restaurants will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at BJ's Restaurants

In related news, SVP Heidi Rogers sold 4,116 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 7,144 shares of the company's stock, valued at $252,611.84. This represents a 36.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Jacob Guild sold 9,521 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.51, for a total transaction of $338,090.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,803 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $135,044.53. The trade was a 71.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of BJ's Restaurants

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BJRI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in BJ's Restaurants by 23.2% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 33,606 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,181,000 after purchasing an additional 6,322 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its holdings in BJ's Restaurants by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 33,417 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,174,000 after purchasing an additional 2,743 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in BJ's Restaurants by 147.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 259,977 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $9,134,000 after purchasing an additional 155,109 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in BJ's Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at $4,502,000. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC increased its holdings in BJ's Restaurants by 86.6% in the fourth quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 12,392 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $435,000 after purchasing an additional 5,751 shares during the period. 99.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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