Wall Street Zen Downgrades BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) to Hold

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded BJ's Restaurants from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report issued to investors.
• Despite the downgrade, Benchmark and Piper Sandler raised their price targets for the stock, indicating some mixed analyst sentiment.
• BJ's Restaurants reported earnings beat of $0.97 EPS, surpassing analysts' expectations, and a 4.5% increase in revenue year-over-year.

Wall Street Zen cut shares of BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Sunday morning.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on BJRI. Barclays upped their target price on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. 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 report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $39.67.

BJ's Restaurants Stock Performance

BJRI stock traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $30.11. 466,399 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 454,964. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.38. BJ's Restaurants has a 52 week low of $28.92 and a 52 week high of $47.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $666.03 million, a PE ratio of 25.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $34.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.49.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $362.74 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.72 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BJ's Restaurants will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Heidi Rogers sold 4,116 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.36, for a total transaction of $145,541.76. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 7,144 shares in the company, valued at approximately $252,611.84. This represents a 36.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Alex Puchner sold 1,821 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.06, for a total transaction of $62,023.26. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 10,622 shares in the company, valued at $361,785.32. The trade was a 14.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 15,458 shares of company stock worth $545,656. 4.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 18.0% during the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 2,189 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $98,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in BJ's Restaurants by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 10,774 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its position in BJ's Restaurants by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 3,438 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 1.8% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 23,034 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,027,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 4.2% in the second quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 13,172 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $586,000 after purchasing an additional 529 shares during the last quarter. 99.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.