AQR Capital Management LLC Sells 7,209 Shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI)

AQR Capital Management LLC decreased its position in BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 69,218 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 7,209 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.30% of BJ’s Restaurants worth $2,402,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 40.8% in 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 last quarter. 272 Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants in the second quarter valued at about $1,173,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 21.0% during the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 296,176 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $10,716,000 after acquiring an additional 51,364 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 298.7% during the fourth quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 141,556 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,097,000 after acquiring an additional 106,054 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in BJ’s Restaurants during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,250,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays dropped their price objective on BJ’s Restaurants from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Benchmark cut shares of BJ’s Restaurants from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, BJ’s Restaurants presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO C Bradford Richmond acquired 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $29.40 per share, with a total value of $73,500.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 16,905 shares in the company, valued at $497,007. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 4.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

BJ’s Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of BJRI opened at $32.49 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $30.88 and its 200-day moving average is $33.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $759.71 million, a PE ratio of 32.49, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 2.12. BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $21.64 and a fifty-two week high of $38.87.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The restaurant operator reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $349.18 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast 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.