Piper Sandler Raises BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Price Target to $40.00

Key Points

• Piper Sandler has increased the price target for BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) from $36.00 to $40.00, which suggests a potential upside of 12.90% from its previous closing price.
• Multiple research analysts updated their ratings on BJ's Restaurants, with Wall Street Zen upgrading it to a "buy" and Barclays setting a new target price of $37.00.
• BJ's Restaurants reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.97, exceeding estimates, while also showing a year-over-year revenue growth of 4.5%.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) had its price target increased by equities research analysts at Piper Sandler from $36.00 to $40.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "neutral" rating on the restaurant operator's stock. Piper Sandler's price objective suggests a potential upside of 12.90% from the company's previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Wall Street Zen raised BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. Barclays upped their target price on BJ's Restaurants from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 target price on BJ's Restaurants and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BJ's Restaurants presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $38.80.

BJ's Restaurants Stock Down 3.5%

Shares of NASDAQ BJRI opened at $35.43 on Friday. BJ's Restaurants has a 12 month low of $27.61 and a 12 month high of $47.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $783.71 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.69, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.56. The business has a 50-day moving average of $43.06 and a 200-day moving average of $38.11.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The restaurant operator reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.28. BJ's Restaurants had a return on equity of 10.35% and a net margin of 1.64%. The company had revenue of $365.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $362.74 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 earnings per share. BJ's Restaurants's revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that BJ's Restaurants will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at BJ's Restaurants

In other BJ's Restaurants news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 3,738 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 4,579 shares of the company's stock, valued at $202,941.28. This represents a 44.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Greg Trojan sold 146,102 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.63, for a total value of $6,520,532.26. Following the sale, the director directly owned 19,896 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $887,958.48. This trade represents a 88.01% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of BJ's Restaurants

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BJRI. Summit Securities Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the first quarter valued at approximately $69,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale purchased a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the first quarter valued at approximately $97,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 51.8% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,887 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 985 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $108,000. Finally, Two Sigma Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.95% of the company's stock.

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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