14,540 Shares in BJ's Restaurants, Inc. $BJRI Acquired by Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc.

Key Points

• Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. acquired 14,540 shares of BJ's Restaurants, valued at approximately $498,000, indicating strong interest from institutional investors.
• BJ's Restaurants reported $0.97 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing expectations and reflecting a 4.5% increase in revenue compared to the previous year.
• Investment analysts have varied opinions on the stock, with most recent ratings resulting in a consensus of a "Hold" with a price target around $39.67.

Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 14,540 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $498,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of BJ's Restaurants at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 837,031 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $29,409,000 after acquiring an additional 161,495 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 147.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 259,977 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $9,134,000 after acquiring an additional 155,109 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth about $4,502,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 60.3% during the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 277,874 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $9,763,000 after acquiring an additional 104,490 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of 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 worth $43,642,000 after acquiring an additional 78,852 shares in the last quarter. 99.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at BJ's Restaurants

In other news, SVP Heidi Rogers sold 4,116 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.36, for a total value of $145,541.76. Following the sale, the senior vice president 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Jacob Guild sold 9,521 shares of the business'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 transaction of $338,090.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,803 shares in the company, 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.

BJ's Restaurants Stock Performance

BJRI traded up $0.59 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $34.24. The company had a trading volume of 115,258 shares, compared to its average volume of 443,102. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market cap of $757.48 million, a PE ratio of 28.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.59. BJ's Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.89 and a 12-month high of $47.02. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $39.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.01.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $365.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.72 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BJ's Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on BJRI shares. Barclays boosted their price target 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. Benchmark upgraded shares of BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 16th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 price target on shares of BJ's Restaurants and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $39.67.

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.