Meeder Asset Management Inc. Purchases New Position in BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI)

Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,155 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $40,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its stake 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 in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 2.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co lifted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 10.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 141.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, ClariVest Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC now owns 29,089 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,009,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. 99.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at BJ’s Restaurants

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BJRI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Benchmark cut shares of BJ’s Restaurants from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BJ’s Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.63.

BJ’s Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock opened at $30.99 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $724.55 million, a PE ratio of 30.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 2.12. BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. has a 12-month low of $21.64 and a 12-month high of $38.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.75.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The restaurant operator reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $349.93 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $349.18 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.42 EPS for the current year.

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 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.