Evercore ISI Cuts BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) Price Target to $78.00

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) had its target price reduced by Evercore ISI from $79.00 to $78.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an in-line rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Gordon Haskett cut BJ’s Wholesale Club from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $70.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from a neutral rating to a buy rating and raised their price target for the stock from $81.00 to $87.00 in a research note on Monday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an equal weight rating and issued a $70.00 target price (down previously from $73.00) on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $74.40.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Price Performance

Shares of BJ opened at $73.75 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $73.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.38. BJ’s Wholesale Club has a 1 year low of $60.33 and a 1 year high of $80.42. The stock has a market cap of $9.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.05. BJ’s Wholesale Club had a net margin of 2.64% and a return on equity of 40.84%. The company had revenue of $5.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that BJ’s Wholesale Club will post 3.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BJ’s Wholesale Club

In other news, CEO Robert W. Eddy sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.70, for a total transaction of $843,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 500,792 shares in the company, valued at $38,410,746.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Robert W. Eddy sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.70, for a total transaction of $843,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 500,792 shares in the company, valued at $38,410,746.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Joseph Mcgrail sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total transaction of $77,370.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $998,459.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 98,840 shares of company stock worth $7,408,605. Insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ’s Wholesale Club

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 39.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,013,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,142,898,000 after buying an additional 4,548,963 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 180.8% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,615,939 shares of the company’s stock worth $173,071,000 after purchasing an additional 1,684,174 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 145.7% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,422,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,792,000 after purchasing an additional 1,436,785 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in BJ’s Wholesale Club in the fourth quarter valued at $89,816,000. Finally, Eaton Vance Management raised its holdings in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 323.5% during the first quarter. Eaton Vance Management now owns 1,719,134 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,230,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313,206 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.60% of the company’s stock.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Company Profile

BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates warehouse clubs on the eastern half of the United States. It provides groceries, general merchandise, gasoline and other ancillary services, coupon books, and promotions. The company sells its products through the websites BJs.com, BerkleyJensen.com, and Wellsleyfarms.com, as well as the mobile app.