BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Hits New 52-Week High - Here's Why

BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $46.26 and last traded at $45.12, with a volume of 876373 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.52.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BJRI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective 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 target on BJ's Restaurants and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.20.

BJ's Restaurants Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The company has a market cap of $993.85 million, a P/E ratio of 47.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.10.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.20. BJ's Restaurants had a net margin of 1.64% and a return on equity of 10.35%. The business had revenue of $347.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $347.70 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that BJ's Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BJ's Restaurants news, Director Greg Trojan sold 146,102 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.63, for a total value of $6,520,532.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,896 shares in the company, valued at approximately $887,958.48. This represents a 88.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 3,738 shares of BJ's Restaurants stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.32, for a total transaction of $165,668.16. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 4,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,941.28. This trade represents a 44.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 4.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of BJ's Restaurants

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BJRI. Woodline Partners LP lifted its holdings in BJ's Restaurants by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 410,289 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $14,057,000 after buying an additional 48,455 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new position in shares of BJ's Restaurants in the first quarter worth approximately $291,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in BJ's Restaurants by 15.6% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 37,189 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,274,000 after purchasing an additional 5,013 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its position in BJ's Restaurants by 103.2% during the 1st quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 1,700,780 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $58,269,000 after purchasing an additional 863,749 shares during the period. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new position in BJ's Restaurants during the 1st quarter worth approximately $754,000. 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.