ProShare Advisors LLC Takes Position in BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI)

ProShare Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 5,787 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,902 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in BJ's Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth approximately $108,000. Arizona State Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $200,000. Two Sigma Securities LLC acquired a new stake in BJ's Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth about $201,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 1,251.3% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,297 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $221,000 after acquiring an additional 5,831 shares in the last quarter. 99.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Greg Trojan sold 146,102 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.63, for a total value of $6,520,532.26. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,896 shares in the company, valued at $887,958.48. This trade represents a 88.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 3,738 shares of BJ's Restaurants 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 now directly owns 4,579 shares in the company, valued at $202,941.28. The trade was a 44.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BJ's Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of BJRI traded down $0.54 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $44.97. 745,570 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 372,273. The stock's fifty day moving average is $36.87 and its 200 day moving average is $36.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.04. BJ's Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.61 and a 1-year high of $45.92. The stock has a market cap of $994.56 million, a P/E ratio of 66.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.47.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.20. BJ's Restaurants had a net margin of 1.23% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The company had revenue of $347.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $347.70 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that BJ's Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on BJRI. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 price objective on BJ's Restaurants and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $37.20.

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.