BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Trading Down 3.2% - Should You Sell?

Shares of BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) traded down 3.2% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $43.45 and last traded at $43.03. 18,464 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 95% from the average session volume of 385,289 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.45.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BJRI shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Barclays increased their price target on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 target price on shares of BJ's Restaurants and gave the stock 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 two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BJ's Restaurants currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.20.

BJ's Restaurants Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $43.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.63. The stock has a market cap of $949.94 million, a PE ratio of 45.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.56.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $347.97 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $347.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that BJ's Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BJ's Restaurants

In related news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 3,738 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 owned 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 value of $6,520,532.26. Following the sale, the director directly owned 19,896 shares of the company's stock, valued at $887,958.48. This represents a 88.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in BJ's Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth about $4,502,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 3,594.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,670 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $468,000 after buying an additional 13,300 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 583,828 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $20,513,000 after buying an additional 14,607 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 36,076 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,268,000 after buying an additional 5,722 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 7,712 shares during the period. 99.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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