Cerity Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 16,645 BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI)

Key Points

• Cerity Partners LLC acquired 16,645 shares of BJ's Restaurants, Inc., valued at approximately $570,000, increasing its stake to about 0.07% of the company.
• BJ's Restaurants reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.59, beating estimates and showing a 3.2% revenue increase compared to the same quarter last year.
• Insider trading activity saw Director Greg Trojan sell 146,102 shares, representing an 88.01% decrease in his holdings, highlighting significant insider movements within the company.

Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 16,645 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $570,000. Cerity Partners LLC owned about 0.07% of BJ's Restaurants at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the 1st quarter worth about $254,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 3,594.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,670 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $468,000 after buying an additional 13,300 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 18.9% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 36,076 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,268,000 after buying an additional 5,722 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 45.4% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 243,267 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $8,547,000 after buying an additional 75,936 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 229,029 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $8,047,000 after buying an additional 19,239 shares during the period. 99.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BJRI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 price objective on shares of BJ's Restaurants and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BJ's Restaurants has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $38.00.

Insider Activity at BJ's Restaurants

In related news, Director Greg Trojan sold 146,102 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director directly owned 19,896 shares in the company, valued at $887,958.48. This represents a 88.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 3,738 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.32, for a total transaction of $165,668.16. Following the transaction, the insider owned 4,579 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $202,941.28. This represents a 44.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BJ's Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BJRI traded down $0.19 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $38.96. The stock had a trading volume of 624,093 shares, compared to its average volume of 470,845. The company's 50-day moving average price is $43.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.07. The company has a market capitalization of $861.80 million, a P/E ratio of 41.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. BJ's Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.61 and a fifty-two week high of $47.02.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $347.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $347.70 million. BJ's Restaurants had a net margin of 1.64% and a return on equity of 10.35%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BJ's Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS 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.