Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys Shares of 9,400 BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. $BJRI

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $330,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC increased its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 187.7% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 699 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the period. Quarry LP boosted its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 1,618.3% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,031 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 971 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 39.3% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 939 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the period. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants in the fourth quarter worth $63,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 14.5% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,305 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $101,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at BJ’s Restaurants

In other news, Director Noah A. Elbogen sold 4,652 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.00, for a total transaction of $251,208.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 76,235 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,116,690. This represents a 5.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Kendra D. Miller sold 19,261 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.60, for a total value of $1,070,911.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 28,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,590,104.40. This represents a 40.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 63,817 shares of company stock worth $3,384,688. 4.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BJRI opened at $60.23 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $48.76 and a 200-day moving average of $42.81. The firm has a market cap of $1.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $28.46 and a twelve month high of $62.07.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The restaurant operator reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $358.12 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $356.97 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 3.15% and a return on equity of 13.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BJRI. Benchmark lifted their price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $42.00 to $38.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $44.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.00.

About BJ’s Restaurants

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc is a publicly traded casual dining chain known for its deep‐dish pizzas, California‐style thin crust offerings and in‐house craft beer selections. Operating under the BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse brand, the company combines a microbrewery concept with full‐service dining, offering an extensive menu that includes appetizers, salads, pasta dishes, sandwiches and the signature Pizookie dessert.

Founded in 1978 in Orange County, California, BJ’s Restaurants began as BJ’s Chicago Pizzeria, bringing a Chicago‐style pizza experience to the West Coast.