BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Shares Gap Down on Disappointing Earnings

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) gapped down prior to trading on Friday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $37.09, but opened at $35.07. BJ’s Restaurants shares last traded at $35.06, with a volume of 122,549 shares.

The restaurant operator reported ($0.13) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by ($0.16). BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 2.19%. The firm had revenue of $325.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $324.97 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.16) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on BJRI. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Friday. Barclays reduced their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Benchmark cut BJ’s Restaurants from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.00.

Insider Activity at BJ’s Restaurants

In other news, CEO C Bradford Richmond acquired 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $29.40 per share, with a total value of $73,500.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 16,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $497,007. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 4.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BJRI. Olympiad Research LP bought a new stake in BJ’s Restaurants in the third quarter valued at about $469,000. Emerald Advisers LLC increased its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 0.7% in the third 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. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 142.9% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,540 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 906 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 15.0% in the third quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 34,097 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,110,000 after purchasing an additional 4,440 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in BJ’s Restaurants in the third quarter valued at about $500,000. Institutional investors own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

BJ’s Restaurants Trading Down 8.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $794.69 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.71, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 2.12. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.44.

About BJ’s Restaurants

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.