BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Barclays Analyst Says

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) had its price target upped by research analysts at Barclays from $32.00 to $34.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “underweight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Barclays‘s price target indicates a potential downside of 3.71% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on BJRI. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded BJ’s Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, BJ’s Restaurants has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.00.

BJ’s Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of BJRI opened at $35.31 on Tuesday. BJ’s Restaurants has a 1 year low of $27.61 and a 1 year high of $38.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The stock has a market cap of $805.67 million, a P/E ratio of 28.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 2.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $35.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.98.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 2,313 shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.60, for a total value of $82,342.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 5,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,068.40. The trade was a 30.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 4.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BJRI. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 247.8% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,864 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 1,328 shares in the last quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 2.8% during the second quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC now owns 29,089 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,009,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 27.5% during 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 during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in BJ’s Restaurants during the second quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd lifted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 3.7% during the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 29,499 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,024,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058 shares during the last quarter. 99.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.