BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

BJRI has been the subject of several other research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 price objective on BJ's Restaurants and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays upped their price objective on 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 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 MarketBeat, BJ's Restaurants presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $37.20.

BJ's Restaurants Price Performance

BJRI traded down $0.08 on Friday, hitting $44.45. 480,007 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 386,702. BJ's Restaurants has a 12 month low of $27.61 and a 12 month high of $47.02. The business has a 50-day moving average of $43.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.63. 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 has a market capitalization of $983.23 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.29, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.56.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $347.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $347.70 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that BJ's Restaurants will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BJ's Restaurants news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 3,738 shares of the firm'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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 4,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,941.28. This trade represents a 44.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through 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 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 approximately $887,958.48. This trade represents a 88.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 4.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ's Restaurants

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in BJ's Restaurants by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 10,774 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,902 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 12.0% during the first quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 3,438 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,176 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $709,000 after acquiring an additional 1,486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 14.6% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 13,617 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $467,000 after acquiring an additional 1,732 shares in the last quarter. 99.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.