BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BJ) Short Interest Update

BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BJ) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,880,000 shares, a drop of 14.3% from the December 31st total of 8,030,000 shares. Currently, 5.3% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,470,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.7 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BJ’s Wholesale Club

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Davis Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 375.6% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BJ’s Wholesale Club in the 3rd quarter worth about $41,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in BJ’s Wholesale Club during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 198.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 574 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $94.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on BJ’s Wholesale Club from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on BJ’s Wholesale Club from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on BJ’s Wholesale Club from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, BJ’s Wholesale Club presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.00.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Stock Performance

NYSE BJ traded down $0.98 on Friday, reaching $99.01. 1,573,290 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,391,634. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $95.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $88.62. The firm has a market cap of $13.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.80, a P/E/G ratio of 4.65 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.14 and a current ratio of 0.76. BJ’s Wholesale Club has a fifty-two week low of $64.06 and a fifty-two week high of $100.74.

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.12 billion. BJ’s Wholesale Club had a return on equity of 35.41% and a net margin of 2.71%. BJ’s Wholesale Club’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.98 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that BJ’s Wholesale Club will post 3.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About BJ’s Wholesale Club

BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates warehouse clubs on the eastern half of the United States. It provides groceries, general merchandise, gasoline and other ancillary services, coupon books, and promotions. The company sells its products through the websites BJs.com, BerkleyJensen.com, and Wellsleyfarms.com, as well as the mobile app.