BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Trading Down 3.2% - Here's What Happened

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BJRI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 target price on shares of BJ's Restaurants and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $37.20.

BJ's Restaurants Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $926.46 million, a PE ratio of 44.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.56. 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's 50 day moving average is $43.50 and its 200-day moving average is $37.72.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $347.97 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $347.70 million. BJ's Restaurants had a net margin of 1.64% and a return on equity of 10.35%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BJ's Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 3,738 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.32, for a total value of $165,668.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 4,579 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $202,941.28. The trade was a 44.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Greg Trojan sold 146,102 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.63, for a total transaction of $6,520,532.26. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 19,896 shares of the company's stock, valued at $887,958.48. The trade was a 88.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ's Restaurants

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BJRI. US Bancorp DE increased its position 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 worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the 1st quarter valued at about $69,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the 1st quarter valued at about $97,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at about $108,000. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at about $200,000. Institutional investors own 99.95% of the company's stock.

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.