Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 1,228 Shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,183 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 1,228 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned about 0.08% of BJ’s Restaurants worth $592,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BJRI. Emerald Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 569,221 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $18,534,000 after purchasing an additional 4,009 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 27.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 529,116 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $18,360,000 after purchasing an additional 114,008 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 302,152 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,485,000 after purchasing an additional 5,976 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 142,622 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,949,000 after purchasing an additional 8,323 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants during the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,250,000. 99.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on BJRI. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.57.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 2,313 shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.60, for a total transaction of $82,342.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $190,068.40. The trade was a 30.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO C Bradford Richmond bought 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $497,007. This trade represents a 17.36 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of BJRI opened at $37.34 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $852.10 million, a PE ratio of 29.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 2.08. The business has a fifty day moving average of $35.19 and a 200 day moving average of $33.83. BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.61 and a 52-week high of $38.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported ($0.13) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.15). BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 7.98% and a net margin of 2.24%. The business had revenue of $325.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $324.97 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.16) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.26 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.