BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,040,000 shares, an increase of 5.7% from the August 15th total of 1,930,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 414,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.9 days. Currently, 9.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BJRI. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Benchmark downgraded BJ’s Restaurants from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.63.

BJ’s Restaurants Trading Up 2.5 %

NASDAQ:BJRI traded up $0.79 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $32.16. 39,703 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 390,731. BJ’s Restaurants has a fifty-two week low of $21.64 and a fifty-two week high of $38.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $752.00 million, a P/E ratio of 31.37, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 2.12. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.73.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The restaurant operator reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.21. BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 2.19% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The company had revenue of $349.93 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $349.18 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. BJ’s Restaurants’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at BJ’s Restaurants

In other news, CEO C Bradford Richmond purchased 2,500 shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $29.40 per share, for a total transaction of $73,500.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 16,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $497,007. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 4.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 327,259 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $11,785,000 after acquiring an additional 4,163 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 743 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth approximately $578,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $95,000. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $2,199,000. 99.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.