BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Piper Sandler Analyst Says

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 - Free Report) had its price objective upped by Piper Sandler from $36.00 to $40.00 in a report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the restaurant operator's stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $33.00 price target on shares of BJ's Restaurants and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BJ's Restaurants from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BJ's Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $39.67.

BJ's Restaurants Price Performance

NASDAQ BJRI traded up $0.54 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $34.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 332,382 shares, compared to its average volume of 429,649. The stock has a market cap of $769.08 million, a PE ratio of 29.22, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.59. BJ's Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $27.61 and a fifty-two week high of $47.02. The company's 50-day moving average is $42.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.04.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $365.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $362.74 million. BJ's Restaurants had a net margin of 1.99% and a return on equity of 11.73%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. Analysts forecast that BJ's Restaurants will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at BJ's Restaurants

In other BJ's Restaurants news, Director Greg Trojan sold 146,102 shares of BJ's Restaurants stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director owned 19,896 shares of the company's stock, valued at $887,958.48. The trade was a 88.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 3,738 shares of BJ's Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.32, for a total value of $165,668.16. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 4,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,941.28. This trade represents a 44.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 4.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ's Restaurants

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BJRI. Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the first quarter worth approximately $69,000. AdvisorShares Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the second quarter valued at approximately $120,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the first quarter valued at approximately $97,000. US Bancorp DE increased its position 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. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $108,000. 99.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.