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 shares of BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 14,540 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $498,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. owned 0.07% of BJ's Restaurants at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in BJ's Restaurants by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 10,774 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $379,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 12.0% during the first quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 3,438 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 51.8% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,887 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $99,000 after purchasing an additional 985 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,176 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 1,486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 14.6% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 13,617 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $467,000 after purchasing an additional 1,732 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.95% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at BJ's Restaurants

In other news, SVP Heidi Rogers sold 4,116 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.36, for a total transaction of $145,541.76. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 7,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $252,611.84. This represents a 36.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Jacob Guild sold 9,521 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.51, for a total value of $338,090.71. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 3,803 shares in the company, valued at $135,044.53. The trade was a 71.46% 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on BJRI shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on BJ's Restaurants from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 16th. Benchmark upgraded BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 price objective on BJ's Restaurants and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $39.67.

BJ's Restaurants Stock Up 2.2%

NASDAQ BJRI traded up $0.75 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $35.09. 796,939 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 674,339. BJ's Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.89 and a 12 month high of $47.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $776.33 million, a PE ratio of 29.49, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a 50 day moving average of $39.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.02.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $362.74 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. BJ's Restaurants's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that BJ's Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current 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.