Public Sector Pension Investment Board Grows Holdings in BJ's Restaurants, Inc. $BJRI

Key Points

• The Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in BJ's Restaurants, Inc. by 27.2%, owning approximately 0.33% of the company after purchasing an additional 15,458 shares.
• Analysts have recently upgraded BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" to a "buy" rating, with Benchmark setting a target price of $44.00.
• BJ's Restaurants reported a quarterly earnings of $0.97 EPS, which exceeded expectations by $0.28, with revenue up 4.5% year-over-year.

Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Free Report) by 27.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72,355 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 15,458 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned 0.33% of BJ's Restaurants worth $2,479,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in 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 valued at $43,642,000 after acquiring an additional 78,852 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its stake in BJ's Restaurants by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 837,031 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $29,409,000 after acquiring an additional 161,495 shares in the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its stake in 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 valued at $9,763,000 after acquiring an additional 104,490 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in BJ's Restaurants by 147.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 259,977 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $9,134,000 after acquiring an additional 155,109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in BJ's Restaurants by 45.4% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 243,267 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $8,547,000 after acquiring an additional 75,936 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.95% of the company's stock.

BJ's Restaurants Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of BJRI traded up $0.75 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $35.09. The company's stock had a trading volume of 796,939 shares, compared to its average volume of 674,339. The stock has a market cap of $776.33 million, a PE ratio of 29.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. BJ's Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.89 and a 52 week high of $47.02. The company's fifty day moving average price is $39.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.02.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.28. BJ's Restaurants had a net margin of 1.99% and a return on equity of 11.73%. The company had revenue of $365.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $362.74 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that BJ's Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on BJRI. Wall Street Zen raised shares of BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 16th. Benchmark upgraded shares of BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 target price on shares of BJ's Restaurants and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BJ's Restaurants has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $39.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BJ's Restaurants news, CAO Jacob Guild sold 9,521 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 3,803 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $135,044.53. The trade was a 71.46% 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, SVP Heidi Rogers sold 4,116 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.36, for a total transaction of $145,541.76. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $252,611.84. The trade was a 36.55% 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 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.