BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Rating Lowered to “Market Perform” at Oppenheimer

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) was downgraded by analysts at Oppenheimer from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on BJRI. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays reduced their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.00.

BJ’s Restaurants Price Performance

NASDAQ:BJRI opened at $35.31 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.98. The stock has a market cap of $805.67 million, a PE ratio of 28.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 2.10. BJ’s Restaurants has a 52 week low of $27.61 and a 52 week high of $38.87.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported ($0.13) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $325.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $324.97 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.16) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BJ’s Restaurants news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 2,313 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.60, for a total transaction of $82,342.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 4.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 764.9% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 813 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 719 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants during the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 142.9% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,540 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 906 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 247.8% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,864 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 1,328 shares during the period. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants during the third quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

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.