BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $40.40.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BJRI shares. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Barclays raised 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 cut BJ’s Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Gordon Haskett raised BJ’s Restaurants from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $36.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th.

BJ’s Restaurants Price Performance

BJRI stock opened at $34.26 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $35.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.19. BJ’s Restaurants has a 12-month low of $27.61 and a 12-month high of $41.72. The company has a market capitalization of $778.32 million, a PE ratio of 50.38, 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.

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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BJRI. Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 837,031 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $29,409,000 after buying an additional 161,495 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 147.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 259,977 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $9,134,000 after acquiring an additional 155,109 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 528.9% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 155,383 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,059,000 after acquiring an additional 130,676 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $4,502,000. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in BJ’s Restaurants in the 3rd quarter valued at $4,310,000. 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.