Analysts Set BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Price Target at $56.88

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $56.8750.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a report on Friday, August 7th. Mizuho set a $74.00 price target on BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Zacks Research raised BJ’s Restaurants from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. DA Davidson set a $65.00 price objective on BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, William Blair raised BJ’s Restaurants from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Performance

BJ’s Restaurants stock opened at $66.67 on Friday. BJ’s Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $28.46 and a fifty-two week high of $74.60. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.65, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.32.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $388.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $377.07 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 2.86%.The business’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that BJ’s Restaurants will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BJ’s Restaurants

In other BJ’s Restaurants news, EVP Brian S. Krakower sold 7,341 shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.17, for a total value of $405,002.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 4,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $260,457.57. The trade was a 60.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Kendra D. Miller sold 2,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.80, for a total transaction of $207,864.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 25,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,788,345.80. The trade was a 10.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 131,601 shares of company stock worth $8,033,014 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in BJ’s Restaurants in the 2nd quarter worth about $200,006,000. UBS Group AG grew its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 576.9% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,451,883 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $44,326,000 after acquiring an additional 1,237,383 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 2.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,114,685 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $39,125,000 after acquiring an additional 30,684 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 48.8% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 935,375 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $28,557,000 after purchasing an additional 306,930 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 67.3% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 388,779 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $11,869,000 after purchasing an additional 156,458 shares during the last quarter. 99.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About BJ’s Restaurants

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc is a publicly traded casual dining chain known for its deep?dish pizzas, California?style thin crust offerings and in?house craft beer selections. Operating under the BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse brand, the company combines a microbrewery concept with full?service dining, offering an extensive menu that includes appetizers, salads, pasta dishes, sandwiches and the signature Pizookie dessert.

Founded in 1978 in Orange County, California, BJ’s Restaurants began as BJ’s Chicago Pizzeria, bringing a Chicago?style pizza experience to the West Coast.