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

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in BJ's Restaurants by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,242,137 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $43,642,000 after buying an additional 78,852 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in BJ's Restaurants by 23.9% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 837,031 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $29,409,000 after buying an additional 161,495 shares in the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 60.3% during the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 277,874 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $9,763,000 after purchasing an additional 104,490 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 147.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 259,977 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $9,134,000 after purchasing an additional 155,109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 45.4% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 243,267 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $8,547,000 after purchasing an additional 75,936 shares in the last quarter. 99.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BJ's Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of BJRI stock traded down $1.44 on Monday, hitting $33.65. 683,382 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 682,982. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.32. BJ's Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.89 and a 12 month high of $47.02. The stock has a market cap of $744.34 million, a P/E ratio of 28.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a 50 day moving average of $39.70 and a 200 day moving average of $38.01.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BJRI. Piper Sandler increased their target price on 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 raised BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 16th. Benchmark raised BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 target price on BJ's Restaurants and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on BJ's Restaurants from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BJ's Restaurants presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.67.

Insider Activity

In other BJ's Restaurants news, SVP Heidi Rogers sold 4,116 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.36, for a total value of $145,541.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $252,611.84. This trade represents a 36.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Jacob Guild sold 9,521 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.51, for a total value of $338,090.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 3,803 shares of the company's stock, valued at $135,044.53. This represents a 71.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BJ's Restaurants 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.