BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Short Interest Update

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,040,000 shares, an increase of 5.7% from the August 15th total of 1,930,000 shares. Currently, 9.7% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 414,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.9 days.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock traded up $0.79 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $32.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 39,703 shares, compared to its average volume of 390,731. The company has a market capitalization of $752.00 million, a P/E ratio of 31.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 2.12. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.73. BJ’s Restaurants has a one year low of $21.64 and a one year high of $38.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.35.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The restaurant operator reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $349.93 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $349.18 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 2.19% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at BJ’s Restaurants

In other BJ’s Restaurants news, CEO C Bradford Richmond acquired 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $29.40 per share, with a total value of $73,500.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 16,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $497,007. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in BJ’s Restaurants during the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants during the first quarter valued at about $45,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 141.0% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 743 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in BJ’s Restaurants in the 2nd quarter worth about $57,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC grew its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 247.8% in the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,864 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 1,328 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on BJRI. Benchmark cut shares of BJ’s Restaurants from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.63.

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 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.