BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Receives "Hold (C)" Rating from Weiss Ratings

Key Points

• BJ's Restaurants has received a reaffirmed "Hold (C)" rating from Weiss Ratings, indicating caution for investors regarding the stock's performance.
• Analyst ratings show a mixed outlook, with Barclays downgrading their price target to $28.00, while Piper Sandler has raised it to $40.00.
• Insider selling has occurred, with CAO Jacob Guild and SVP Heidi Rogers selling significant shares, reducing their ownership in the company.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "hold (c)" rating reaffirmed by Weiss Ratings in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on BJ's Restaurants from $37.00 to $28.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded BJ's Restaurants from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, September 21st. Zacks Research downgraded BJ's Restaurants from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on BJ's Restaurants from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Benchmark upgraded BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, August 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $38.17.

BJ's Restaurants Price Performance

BJRI traded up $0.28 on Friday, reaching $32.97. The stock had a trading volume of 413,997 shares, compared to its average volume of 454,616. 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 company has a market capitalization of $729.43 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.34. BJ's Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $28.92 and a fifty-two week high of $47.02. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $32.10 and a 200-day moving average of $36.96.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BJ's Restaurants news, CAO Jacob Guild sold 9,521 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.51, for a total value of $338,090.71. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Heidi Rogers sold 4,116 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.36, for a total value of $145,541.76. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 7,144 shares in the company, valued at $252,611.84. The trade was a 36.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 15,458 shares of company stock worth $545,656. 4.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ's Restaurants

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BJRI. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in BJ's Restaurants in the first quarter valued at $69,000. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 18.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 2,189 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 77.5% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,317 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $103,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares during the period. AdvisorShares Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $120,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants in the 1st quarter valued at about $97,000. 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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