BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Price Target Raised to $34.00

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) had its price target boosted by investment analysts at Barclays from $32.00 to $34.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “underweight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective suggests a potential downside of 3.90% from the company’s previous close.

BJRI has been the subject of several other reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered shares of BJ’s Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.33.

BJ’s Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock traded down $1.27 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $35.38. 85,415 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 186,738. The company has a market capitalization of $807.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 2.10. BJ’s Restaurants has a 52-week low of $27.61 and a 52-week high of $38.87. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.28.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported ($0.13) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.15). BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 2.24% and a return on equity of 7.98%. The company had revenue of $325.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $324.97 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.16) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.26 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at BJ’s Restaurants

In other BJ’s Restaurants news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 2,313 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.60, for a total value of $82,342.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $190,068.40. This trade represents a 30.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BJRI. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 528.9% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 155,383 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,059,000 after purchasing an additional 130,676 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in BJ’s Restaurants during the third quarter worth about $4,310,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 27.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 529,116 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $18,360,000 after acquiring an additional 114,008 shares in the last quarter. Armistice Capital LLC acquired a new stake in BJ’s Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,602,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in BJ’s Restaurants in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,064,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.