BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the six analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $40.40.

BJRI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Gordon Haskett raised shares of BJ’s Restaurants from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $36.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Oppenheimer cut BJ’s Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wedbush increased their price target on BJ’s Restaurants from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on BJ’s Restaurants from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Up 6.2 %

Shares of BJRI opened at $36.16 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $821.48 million, a P/E ratio of 53.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 2.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.04. BJ’s Restaurants has a 52 week low of $27.61 and a 52 week high of $41.72. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.96.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The restaurant operator reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $344.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $336.48 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 8.76% and a net margin of 1.23%. On average, analysts forecast that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 764.9% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 813 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,902 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $108,000. Arizona State Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Finally, Two Sigma Securities LLC acquired a new position in BJ’s Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $201,000. 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.