BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Trading 3.5% Higher – Here’s What Happened

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI)’s share price shot up 3.5% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $33.78 and last traded at $33.60. 119,918 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 342,080 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.47.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Barclays upped their price target on BJ’s Restaurants from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer downgraded BJ’s Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of BJ’s Restaurants from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.40.

BJ’s Restaurants Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $769.32 million, a PE ratio of 49.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 2.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company has a fifty day moving average of $35.47 and a 200-day moving average of $34.83.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The restaurant operator reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $344.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $336.48 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 1.23% and a return on equity of 8.76%. Sell-side analysts expect that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 75.9% in the 3rd quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 82,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,696,000 after buying an additional 35,722 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in BJ’s Restaurants in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,310,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in BJ’s Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth approximately $574,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in BJ’s Restaurants during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,064,000. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC increased its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 528.9% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 155,383 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,059,000 after purchasing an additional 130,676 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

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.