BJ’s Restaurants’ (BJRI) “Outperform” Rating Reiterated at Wedbush

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by equities researchers at Wedbush in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $43.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock. Wedbush’s target price indicates a potential upside of 15.93% from the stock’s current price.

BJRI has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Barclays decreased their price target on BJ’s Restaurants from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. Benchmark lowered shares of BJ’s Restaurants from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, BJ’s Restaurants presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.43.

BJ’s Restaurants Trading Down 0.9 %

BJRI opened at $37.09 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.44. 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 has a one year low of $25.09 and a one year high of $38.87. The company has a market cap of $867.16 million, a P/E ratio of 30.40, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 2.12.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $325.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $324.97 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 2.19% and a return on equity of 7.83%. BJ’s Restaurants’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.16) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at BJ’s Restaurants

In other BJ’s Restaurants news, CEO C Bradford Richmond acquired 2,500 shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $29.40 per share, with a total value of $73,500.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 16,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $497,007. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 4.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BJRI. Olympiad Research LP acquired a new position in BJ’s Restaurants in the 3rd quarter valued at $469,000. Emerald Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 0.7% during the third quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 569,221 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $18,534,000 after acquiring an additional 4,009 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 142.9% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,540 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 906 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 15.0% in the third quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 34,097 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,110,000 after purchasing an additional 4,440 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants during the 3rd quarter worth about $500,000. Institutional investors own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

About BJ’s Restaurants

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.