Brokerages Set BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BJ) Target Price at $82.35

BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BJ) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the seventeen analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $82.35.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BJ shares. UBS Group raised their target price on BJ’s Wholesale Club from $89.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Gordon Haskett raised shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on BJ’s Wholesale Club from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Stock Performance

Shares of BJ stock opened at $85.29 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.14. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $88.22 and a 200-day moving average of $78.90. BJ’s Wholesale Club has a one year low of $63.08 and a one year high of $92.37. The company has a market cap of $11.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.23.

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 23rd. The company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.02. BJ’s Wholesale Club had a net margin of 2.59% and a return on equity of 37.78%. The firm had revenue of $4.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.86 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.85 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that BJ’s Wholesale Club will post 3.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert W. Eddy sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.60, for a total value of $963,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 456,792 shares in the company, valued at $40,014,979.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Robert W. Eddy sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.60, for a total transaction of $963,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 456,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,014,979.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeff Desroches sold 28,842 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.86, for a total transaction of $2,591,742.12. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,452 shares in the company, valued at $5,252,496.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 81,544 shares of company stock worth $7,237,084 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BJ’s Wholesale Club

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in BJ’s Wholesale Club during the fourth quarter worth about $81,646,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new stake in BJ’s Wholesale Club in the fourth quarter worth approximately $50,994,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,136,282 shares of the company’s stock worth $342,385,000 after buying an additional 590,113 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 99.9% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 764,474 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,151,000 after acquiring an additional 382,114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Management Inc. WI raised its stake in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI now owns 2,514,630 shares of the company’s stock worth $167,625,000 after acquiring an additional 377,019 shares in the last quarter. 98.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About BJ’s Wholesale Club

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.