Sheets Smith Wealth Management Purchases New Position in BJ's Restaurants, Inc. $BJRI

Key Points

• Sheets Smith Wealth Management acquired a new position in BJ's Restaurants, purchasing 11,079 shares valued at approximately $494,000 during the second quarter.
• BJ's Restaurants recently reported quarterly earnings per share of $0.97, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.69, while revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% year-over-year.
• Numerous institutional investors have increased their holdings in BJ's Restaurants, with 99.95% of the stock now owned by institutional investors.

Sheets Smith Wealth Management purchased a new stake in BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 11,079 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $494,000. Sheets Smith Wealth Management owned 0.05% of BJ's Restaurants at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 103.2% in the 1st quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 1,700,780 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $58,269,000 after purchasing an additional 863,749 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its position in BJ's Restaurants by 45.4% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 243,267 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $8,547,000 after buying an additional 75,936 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in BJ's Restaurants by 10.6% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 773,535 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $26,501,000 after buying an additional 74,101 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 49.8% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 191,882 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $6,574,000 after buying an additional 63,751 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP increased its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 13.4% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 410,289 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $14,057,000 after buying an additional 48,455 shares in the last quarter. 99.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BJ's Restaurants Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of BJRI opened at $30.63 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $677.54 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.74, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.37. BJ's Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $28.92 and a 52 week high of $47.02. 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 business's fifty day moving average price is $34.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.36.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $365.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $362.74 million. BJ's Restaurants had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 1.99%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that BJ's Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other BJ's Restaurants news, CAO Jacob Guild sold 9,521 shares of BJ's Restaurants 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Heidi Rogers sold 4,116 shares of the company'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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 15,458 shares of company stock valued at $545,656. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler boosted 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 lowered BJ's Restaurants from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday. Barclays raised their target price on BJ's Restaurants from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, 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 research report on Monday, August 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BJ's Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $39.67.

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.

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