BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Shares Sold by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP lowered its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Free Report) by 11.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 72,341 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 8,968 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.32% of BJ's Restaurants worth $2,542,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in BJ's Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $4,502,000. Emerald Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 583,828 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $20,513,000 after purchasing an additional 14,607 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 198.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 11,603 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $410,000 after purchasing an additional 7,712 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 147.9% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $574,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.95% of the company's stock.

BJ's Restaurants Stock Up 13.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BJRI opened at $37.91 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $846.00 million, a P/E ratio of 55.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.78. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $33.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.15. BJ's Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.61 and a 52-week high of $41.72. 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 (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $347.97 million for 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that BJ's Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer cut shares of BJ's Restaurants from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Gordon Haskett raised BJ's Restaurants from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $36.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays upped their target price on BJ's Restaurants from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on BJ's Restaurants from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $38.25.

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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