BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.17 EPS

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The restaurant operator reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.17, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $337.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $335.35 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 1.47% and a return on equity of 5.45%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.15 EPS.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Up 5.9 %

NASDAQ BJRI traded up $1.92 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $34.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 885,668 shares, compared to its average volume of 385,154. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.66. BJ’s Restaurants has a twelve month low of $21.64 and a twelve month high of $38.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $810.82 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.78, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 2.12.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Fund 1 Investments, Llc sold 242,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total value of $8,598,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,326,476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,659,692.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other BJ’s Restaurants news, major shareholder Fund 1 Investments, Llc sold 242,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total value of $8,598,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 2,326,476 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,659,692.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Alex Puchner sold 7,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.25, for a total value of $295,022.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 12,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $467,491.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Oppenheimer increased their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $37.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Benchmark boosted their target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a report on Wednesday. Finally, TheStreet upgraded BJ’s Restaurants from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.30.

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. The company was formerly known as Chicago Pizza & Brewery, Inc and changed its name to BJ's Restaurants, Inc in August 2004.