BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Downgraded to Hold at Benchmark

Benchmark lowered shares of BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports.

BJRI has been the topic of a number of other reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research report on Friday, July 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $38.33.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Down 15.4 %

Shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock opened at $31.51 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $35.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. BJ’s Restaurants has a twelve month low of $21.64 and a twelve month high of $38.87. The stock has a market cap of $736.70 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 2.13.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The restaurant operator reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $349.93 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $349.18 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 7.93% and a net margin of 2.19%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at BJ’s Restaurants

In other news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 1,600 shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.56, for a total value of $56,896.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,652 shares in the company, valued at approximately $272,105.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 4.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of BJ’s Restaurants

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BJRI. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 11,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $409,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 20,337 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $736,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co raised its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 6,487 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $235,000 after purchasing an additional 632 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 5,545 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $200,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 141.0% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 743 shares during the period. 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.