BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Reaches New 12-Month High - What's Next?

BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) shares hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $46.27 and last traded at $46.34, with a volume of 114145 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $44.60.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BJRI has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays increased their price target on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 price objective on shares of BJ's Restaurants and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BJ's Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.20.

BJ's Restaurants Stock Down 1.4%

The business's 50 day moving average price is $42.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a PE ratio of 49.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.56.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.20. BJ's Restaurants had a return on equity of 10.35% and a net margin of 1.64%. The company had revenue of $347.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $347.70 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. BJ's Restaurants's revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that BJ's Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BJ's Restaurants news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 3,738 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 4,579 shares in the company, valued at $202,941.28. This represents a 44.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Greg Trojan sold 146,102 shares of BJ's Restaurants stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were 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 owned 19,896 shares in the company, valued at approximately $887,958.48. This represents a 88.01% 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BJ's Restaurants

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Nomura Holdings Inc. raised 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 purchasing an additional 863,749 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,242,137 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $43,642,000 after buying an additional 78,852 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 10.6% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 773,535 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $26,501,000 after buying an additional 74,101 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC raised 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 buying an additional 14,607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $14,641,000 after buying an additional 92,285 shares in the last quarter. 99.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BJ's Restaurants Company Profile

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.