Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 43,634 Shares of BJ's Restaurants, Inc. $BJRI

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. sold 43,634 shares of BJ's Restaurants, reducing its stake by 1.7% and maintaining ownership of approximately 11.05% of the company valued at $84.5 million.
• Analysts have mixed sentiments, with Piper Sandler raising the price target to $40, while two analysts assigned a Sell rating, suggesting a consensus rating of "Hold" with an average price target of $39.67.
• BJ's Restaurants reported earnings of $0.97 per share for the last quarter, significantly surpassing analyst expectations, and saw quarterly revenue increase by 4.5% year-over-year.

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Free Report) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,466,222 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after selling 43,634 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 11.05% of BJ's Restaurants worth $84,493,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BJRI. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in BJ's Restaurants in the first quarter worth approximately $97,000. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 51.8% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,887 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $99,000 after buying an additional 985 shares during the period. Two Sigma Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $201,000. ProShare Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at $203,000. Finally, Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new position in BJ's Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth $250,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.95% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

BJ's Restaurants Stock Performance

NASDAQ BJRI opened at $35.09 on Friday. BJ's Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.89 and a 1 year high of $47.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $776.33 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.49, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $39.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.02.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last released its 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. BJ's Restaurants had a return on equity of 11.73% and a net margin of 1.99%.The company had revenue of $365.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $362.74 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.72 earnings per share. BJ's Restaurants's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BJ's Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Jacob Guild sold 9,521 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 3,803 shares in the company, valued at approximately $135,044.53. This trade represents a 71.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Heidi Rogers sold 4,116 shares of the firm'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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,144 shares of the company's stock, 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 owned by corporate insiders.

About BJ's Restaurants

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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