BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Stake Cut by Two Sigma Investments LP

Two Sigma Investments LP cut its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Free Report) by 37.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 26,395 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 15,915 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP owned 0.12% of BJ's Restaurants worth $927,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BJRI. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $379,000 after buying an additional 342 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in BJ's Restaurants by 23.5% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,902 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in BJ's Restaurants by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,176 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $709,000 after acquiring an additional 1,486 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 110,833 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $3,894,000 after purchasing an additional 1,752 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp increased its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 126,771 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $4,454,000 after purchasing an additional 1,771 shares during the period. 99.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BJ's Restaurants Price Performance

BJ's Restaurants stock traded down $1.03 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $43.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 814,349 shares, compared to its average volume of 377,528. BJ's Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.61 and a 12 month high of $45.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a market capitalization of $956.07 million, a PE ratio of 63.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.58. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $37.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.46.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at BJ's Restaurants

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 transaction of $6,520,532.26. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 19,896 shares of the company's stock, valued at $887,958.48. This trade represents a 88.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 3,738 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.32, for a total value of $165,668.16. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,579 shares in the company, valued at $202,941.28. This trade represents a 44.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BJRI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 price target on shares of BJ's Restaurants and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.20.

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.