BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) Receives New Coverage from Analysts at Melius Research

Melius Research began coverage on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) in a research report report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $90.00 price objective on the stock.

BJ has been the topic of a number of other reports. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on BJ’s Wholesale Club from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised BJ’s Wholesale Club from an underweight rating to a neutral rating and raised their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $86.31.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BJ opened at $82.06 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $83.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $82.16. BJ’s Wholesale Club has a 1 year low of $63.08 and a 1 year high of $92.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.89 billion, a PE ratio of 21.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.24.

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 22nd. The company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $5.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.15 billion. BJ’s Wholesale Club had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 36.12%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BJ’s Wholesale Club will post 3.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at BJ’s Wholesale Club

In other news, CEO Robert W. Eddy sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.40, for a total transaction of $873,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 445,792 shares in the company, valued at $35,395,884.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other BJ’s Wholesale Club news, EVP Jeff Desroches sold 28,842 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.86, for a total transaction of $2,591,742.12. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,452 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,252,496.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Robert W. Eddy sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.40, for a total transaction of $873,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 445,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,395,884.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 79,438 shares of company stock worth $6,980,938. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BJ’s Wholesale Club

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,667 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,000 after acquiring an additional 559 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 83,472 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,564,000 after purchasing an additional 6,009 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 58.2% during the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 24,683 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,645,000 after purchasing an additional 9,084 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 32,971 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,198,000 after purchasing an additional 635 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its holdings in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 59,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,935,000 after buying an additional 2,109 shares during the last quarter. 98.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About BJ’s Wholesale Club

BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates warehouse clubs on the eastern half of the United States. It provides groceries, general merchandise, gasoline and other ancillary services, coupon books, and promotions. The company sells its products through the websites BJs.com, BerkleyJensen.com, and Wellsleyfarms.com, as well as the mobile app.