The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 1,209 Shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lessened its stake in BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) by 14.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,211 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,209 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in BJ’s Restaurants were worth $250,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 2.6% in 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 boosted 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 valued at $736,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co boosted 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 valued at $235,000 after purchasing an additional 632 shares in the last quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC now owns 29,089 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,009,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 19,021 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $689,000 after purchasing an additional 936 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BJRI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Benchmark downgraded BJ’s Restaurants from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued 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 $38.43.

Insider Activity 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 that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $29.40 per share, with a total value 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. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 4.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BJ’s Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BJRI opened at $36.61 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $856.05 million, a PE ratio of 36.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 2.12. BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $22.35 and a fifty-two week high of $38.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.35. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $31.64 and a 200-day moving average of $33.32.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $349.93 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $349.18 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 2.19%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.42 earnings per share for the current year.

BJ’s Restaurants 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.