American Century Companies Inc. Purchases 74,101 Shares of BJ's Restaurants, Inc. $BJRI

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in BJ's Restaurants by 10.6%, owning approximately 3.50% of the company, valued at $26.5 million after acquiring more shares in the first quarter.
• Multiple large investors, including US Bancorp DE with a 51.8% increase in holdings, are also expanding their investments in BJ's Restaurants, which is now primarily owned by institutional investors at 99.95%.
• BJ's Restaurants recently reported an EPS of $0.97 for the last quarter, surpassing estimates and reflecting a 4.5% year-over-year revenue growth.

American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Free Report) by 10.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 773,535 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after purchasing an additional 74,101 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 3.50% of BJ's Restaurants worth $26,501,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in BJ's Restaurants by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,242,137 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $43,642,000 after buying an additional 78,852 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 837,031 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $29,409,000 after acquiring an additional 161,495 shares during the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 60.3% during the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 277,874 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $9,763,000 after acquiring an additional 104,490 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 45.4% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 243,267 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $8,547,000 after acquiring an additional 75,936 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 229,029 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $8,047,000 after acquiring an additional 19,239 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.95% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Heidi Rogers sold 4,116 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.36, for a total transaction of $145,541.76. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,144 shares in the company, valued at $252,611.84. The trade was a 36.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Jacob Guild sold 9,521 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.51, for a total value of $338,090.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,803 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $135,044.53. This trade represents a 71.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 4.90% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on BJRI shares. Barclays upped their target price on BJ's Restaurants from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 price objective on shares of BJ's Restaurants and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Benchmark upgraded shares of BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $39.67.

BJ's Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of BJ's Restaurants stock traded up $0.62 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $34.27. The company had a trading volume of 529,113 shares, compared to its average volume of 445,745. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $39.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.01. The stock has a market cap of $758.05 million, a PE ratio of 28.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.32. BJ's Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.89 and a 1-year high of $47.02.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.28. BJ's Restaurants had a net margin of 1.99% and a return on equity of 11.73%. The firm had revenue of $365.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $362.74 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that BJ's Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.