BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Rating Lowered to Hold at Benchmark

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) was downgraded by Benchmark from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday, Briefing.com reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Barclays upped their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.44.

BJ’s Restaurants Trading Up 3.7 %

BJRI opened at $37.24 on Friday. BJ’s Restaurants has a 12 month low of $21.64 and a 12 month high of $38.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $870.67 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.24, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.28. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $35.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.82.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $337.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $335.35 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 6.51% and a net margin of 1.80%. BJ’s Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.15 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at BJ’s Restaurants

In other news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.56, for a total transaction of $56,896.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $272,105.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of BJRI. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 11,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $409,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 20,337 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $736,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 6,487 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $235,000 after purchasing an additional 632 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 5,545 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $200,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 141.0% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 743 shares in the last quarter. 99.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BJ’s Restaurants Company Profile

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. The company was formerly known as Chicago Pizza & Brewery, Inc and changed its name to BJ's Restaurants, Inc in August 2004.