BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Sets New 52-Week High - Still a Buy?

BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $46.09 and last traded at $46.02, with a volume of 87428 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.21.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on BJRI shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 target price on BJ's Restaurants and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.20.

BJ's Restaurants Stock Up 0.3%

The firm's fifty day moving average is $39.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.63. The firm has a market cap of $1.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.04 and a quick ratio of 0.28.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $347.97 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $347.70 million. BJ's Restaurants had a net margin of 1.23% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BJ's Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 value of $6,520,532.26. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 19,896 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $887,958.48. The trade was a 88.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 3,738 shares of the 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 directly owns 4,579 shares in the company, valued at $202,941.28. The trade was a 44.94% 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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BJRI. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 23.5% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,902 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in BJ's Restaurants in the first quarter valued at about $69,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in BJ's Restaurants in the first quarter worth about $97,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in BJ's Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth about $108,000. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System bought a new position in BJ's Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth about $200,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.95% of the company's stock.

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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