Woodline Partners LP Has $14.06 Million Stock Holdings in BJ's Restaurants, Inc. $BJRI

Key Points

• Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in BJ's Restaurants, Inc. by 13.4% in Q1, now holding 410,289 shares valued at approximately $14.06 million.
• BJ's Restaurants reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.97, surpassing analyst estimates of $0.69, with revenues up 4.5% year-over-year.
• Institutional investors own 99.95% of BJ's Restaurants' stock, reflecting significant confidence from major financial players in the company's growth potential.

Woodline Partners LP grew its stake in BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Free Report) by 13.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 410,289 shares of the restaurant operator's stock after acquiring an additional 48,455 shares during the quarter. Woodline Partners LP owned about 1.86% of BJ's Restaurants worth $14,057,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new position in BJ's Restaurants during the first quarter worth about $291,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 37,189 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,274,000 after buying an additional 5,013 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in BJ's Restaurants by 103.2% in the first quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 1,700,780 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $58,269,000 after buying an additional 863,749 shares during the period. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of BJ's Restaurants in the 1st quarter valued at $754,000. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P purchased a new position in shares of BJ's Restaurants in the 1st quarter valued at $788,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.95% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at BJ's Restaurants

In other news, CAO Jacob Guild sold 9,521 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was 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 directly owned 3,803 shares of the company's stock, valued at $135,044.53. This trade represents a 71.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Alex Puchner sold 1,821 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.06, for a total value of $62,023.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 10,622 shares of the company's stock, valued at $361,785.32. This trade represents a 14.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 15,458 shares of company stock valued at $545,656 over the last 90 days. 4.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on BJRI. Barclays raised their target price on BJ's Restaurants from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Benchmark raised 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 note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.67.

BJ's Restaurants Price Performance

BJRI traded down $0.82 on Tuesday, reaching $30.25. The company had a trading volume of 71,630 shares, compared to its average volume of 449,441. The company has a fifty day moving average of $36.03 and a 200-day moving average of $37.67. The company has a market capitalization of $669.22 million, a P/E ratio of 25.45, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. BJ's Restaurants, Inc. has a one year low of $28.92 and a one year high of $47.02.

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

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.