BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $34.52, but opened at $36.54. BJ’s Restaurants shares last traded at $35.56, with a volume of 26,309 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer lowered shares of BJ’s Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on BJ’s Restaurants from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. 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. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Gordon Haskett raised shares of BJ’s Restaurants from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $36.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BJ’s Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.00.

BJ’s Restaurants Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $799.74 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.04, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 2.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $35.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.98. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported ($0.13) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by ($0.15). The business had revenue of $325.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $324.97 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 7.98% and a net margin of 2.24%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.16) earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BJ’s Restaurants 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 value of $82,342.80. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 4.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. 272 Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants during the second quarter worth $1,173,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. increased its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 75.9% during the third quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 82,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,696,000 after buying an additional 35,722 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in BJ’s Restaurants in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,310,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in BJ’s Restaurants in the third quarter worth approximately $2,064,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants during the third quarter worth $500,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.