Wedbush Reaffirms Outperform Rating for BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI)

Wedbush reissued their outperform rating on shares of BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) in a research report report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has a $43.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Benchmark upped their target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Barclays boosted their price objective on BJ’s Restaurants from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $38.44.

BJ’s Restaurants Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of BJRI opened at $36.26 on Friday. BJ’s Restaurants has a one year low of $21.64 and a one year high of $38.76. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $35.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.35. The company has a market capitalization of $847.76 million, a P/E ratio of 36.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 2.13.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $337.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $335.35 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 6.51% and a net margin of 1.80%. BJ’s Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.15 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.56, for a total transaction of $56,896.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $272,105.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 15.9% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 271,651 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $6,373,000 after acquiring an additional 37,173 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,595,522 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $60,891,000 after purchasing an additional 8,763 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Arizona State Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth approximately $237,000. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in BJ’s Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth approximately $418,000. 99.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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