Voloridge Investment Management LLC Purchases Shares of 29,880 BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI)

Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 29,880 shares of the restaurant operator's stock, valued at approximately $1,050,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.13% of BJ's Restaurants at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,902 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in BJ's Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $108,000. Arizona State Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Two Sigma Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $201,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth approximately $203,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.95% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at BJ's Restaurants

In related news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 3,738 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.32, for a total transaction of $165,668.16. Following the sale, the insider now owns 4,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,941.28. This trade represents a 44.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Greg Trojan sold 146,102 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.63, for a total value of $6,520,532.26. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,896 shares in the company, valued at approximately $887,958.48. This represents a 88.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 4.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

BJ's Restaurants Price Performance

BJ's Restaurants stock traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $44.60. 505,479 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 371,055. BJ's Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $27.61 and a 12-month high of $45.62. The company has a market capitalization of $986.37 million, a P/E ratio of 65.59, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.47. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $36.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $36.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.04 and a quick ratio of 0.28.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $347.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $347.70 million. BJ's Restaurants had a return on equity of 8.76% and a net margin of 1.23%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. Analysts forecast that BJ's Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.