Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust Lowers Stock Holdings in BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI)

Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust decreased its position in BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Free Report) by 12.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 318,792 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 45,239 shares during the period. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust owned about 1.40% of BJ's Restaurants worth $11,201,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of BJ's Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth about $108,000. Arizona State Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Two Sigma Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in BJ's Restaurants by 1,251.3% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,297 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $221,000 after buying an additional 5,831 shares during the period. 99.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BJ's Restaurants Price Performance

NASDAQ:BJRI traded up $4.42 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $37.91. 1,996,842 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 358,651. The firm has a market cap of $846.00 million, a P/E ratio of 55.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $33.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.15. BJ's Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.61 and a 52 week high of $41.72.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $347.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $347.70 million. BJ's Restaurants had a return on equity of 8.76% and a net margin of 1.23%. BJ's Restaurants's revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that BJ's Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on BJRI shares. Wedbush increased their target price on BJ's Restaurants from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Barclays raised their target price on BJ's Restaurants from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Oppenheimer lowered BJ's Restaurants from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Gordon Haskett raised shares of BJ's Restaurants from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $36.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $38.25.

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.