Invesco Ltd. Decreases Stock Holdings in BJ's Restaurants, Inc. $BJRI

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. has reduced its stake in BJ's Restaurants, Inc. by 8.3%, selling 21,594 shares in the first quarter, bringing its total ownership to 238,383 shares worth approximately $8.17 million.
• Several large investors, including US Bancorp DE and Headlands Technologies LLC, have increased their stakes in BJ's Restaurants, indicating continued institutional interest in the company.
• Analysts have varied views on BJ's Restaurants, with price targets ranging from $33.00 to $44.00, with the average target price set at $39.67 following recent upgrades from several firms.

Invesco Ltd. lessened its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Free Report) by 8.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 238,383 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 21,594 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned about 1.08% of BJ's Restaurants worth $8,167,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BJRI. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants in the 1st quarter worth about $97,000. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 51.8% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,887 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $99,000 after acquiring an additional 985 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 3,438 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth about $201,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth about $203,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.95% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BJ's Restaurants news, CAO Jacob Guild sold 9,521 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.51, for a total transaction of $338,090.71. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 3,803 shares in the company, valued at $135,044.53. This represents a 71.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Heidi Rogers sold 4,116 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.36, for a total transaction of $145,541.76. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 7,144 shares of the company's stock, valued at $252,611.84. This trade represents a 36.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 4.30% of the company's stock.

BJ's Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of BJRI stock traded down $0.13 on Friday, hitting $33.56. 468,560 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 624,096. The firm's 50 day moving average is $38.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.94. BJ's Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $27.89 and a one year high of $47.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $742.48 million, a PE ratio of 28.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

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

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.