BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $34.52, but opened at $36.54. BJ’s Restaurants shares last traded at $35.56, with a volume of 26,309 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BJRI shares. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer cut shares of BJ’s Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. 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 research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BJ’s Restaurants has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.00.

BJ’s Restaurants Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $782.27 million, a PE ratio of 27.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 2.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $35.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.98.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported ($0.13) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $325.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $324.97 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 2.24% and a return on equity of 7.98%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.16) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.26 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at BJ’s Restaurants

In other news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 2,313 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.60, for a total transaction of $82,342.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,068.40. The trade was a 30.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 4.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 11.4% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,760 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $220,000 after acquiring an additional 693 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 764.9% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 813 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 719 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 142.9% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,540 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 906 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 27,284 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning boosted its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 27.1% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,620 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $403,000 after purchasing an additional 2,477 shares in 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.