Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Invests $358,000 in BJ's Restaurants, Inc. $BJRI

Key Points

• Empirical Financial Services has invested approximately $358,000 in BJ's Restaurants, Inc., acquiring 8,017 shares during the 2nd quarter.
• Insider trading activity included significant sales by SVP Heidi Rogers and CAO Jacob Guild, which decreased their respective stock holdings by 36.55% and 71.46%.
• BJ's Restaurants recently reported strong quarterly earnings, exceeding analyst expectations with a revenue of $365.60 million and an EPS of $0.97.

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new position in BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 8,017 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $358,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of BJRI. Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in BJ's Restaurants by 103.2% during the 1st quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 1,700,780 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $58,269,000 after buying an additional 863,749 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in BJ's Restaurants by 10.6% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 773,535 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $26,501,000 after acquiring an additional 74,101 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in BJ's Restaurants by 49.8% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 191,882 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $6,574,000 after acquiring an additional 63,751 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP increased its position in BJ's Restaurants by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 410,289 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $14,057,000 after purchasing an additional 48,455 shares during the period. Finally, Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in BJ's Restaurants during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,350,000. 99.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at BJ's Restaurants

In other news, SVP Heidi Rogers sold 4,116 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.36, for a total transaction of $145,541.76. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 7,144 shares of the company's stock, valued at $252,611.84. The trade was a 36.55% 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, CAO Jacob Guild sold 9,521 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.51, for a total transaction of $338,090.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,803 shares in the company, valued at approximately $135,044.53. The trade was a 71.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 15,458 shares of company stock worth $545,656. 4.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BJ's Restaurants Stock Down 1.0%

BJRI stock opened at $31.20 on Tuesday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $32.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.28. The company has a market cap of $690.14 million, a P/E ratio of 26.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.38. BJ's Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.92 and a fifty-two week high of $47.02.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of BJ's Restaurants in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Barclays increased their price target on BJ's Restaurants from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Benchmark raised BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen lowered BJ's Restaurants from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, September 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on BJ's Restaurants from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, BJ's Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.67.

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.

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