BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Stake Cut by First Eagle Investment Management LLC

First Eagle Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) by 43.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 110,737 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 86,000 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned 0.47% of BJ’s Restaurants worth $3,843,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BJRI. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 27.5% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 529,116 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $18,360,000 after purchasing an additional 114,008 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 298.7% in the 4th quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 141,556 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,097,000 after buying an additional 106,054 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in BJ’s Restaurants in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,250,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 21.0% during the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 296,176 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,716,000 after buying an additional 51,364 shares during the period. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 40.8% during the 4th quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 92,176 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,319,000 after buying an additional 26,722 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at BJ’s Restaurants

In other BJ’s Restaurants news, CEO C Bradford Richmond acquired 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $29.40 per share, for a total transaction of $73,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 16,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $497,007. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BJRI. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays cut their price target on BJ’s Restaurants from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Benchmark downgraded BJ’s Restaurants from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BJ’s Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.63.

BJ’s Restaurants Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of BJRI stock opened at $32.83 on Friday. BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. has a 12 month low of $21.64 and a 12 month high of $38.87. The company has a market cap of $767.66 million, a PE ratio of 32.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 2.12. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $31.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.66.

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 $0.51 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $349.93 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $349.18 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 2.19% and a return on equity of 7.83%. BJ’s Restaurants’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. Equities analysts predict that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.42 EPS for the current year.

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.