BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Stock Gets Price Target Trim from Citigroup

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) had its price objective lowered by Citigroup from $75.00 to $70.00 in a report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho raised BJ’s Restaurants from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $74.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Zacks Research lowered BJ’s Restaurants from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 15th. Weiss Ratings raised BJ’s Restaurants from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Benchmark boosted their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, DA Davidson set a $65.00 target price on BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.50.

BJ’s Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock opened at $56.51 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $61.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. BJ’s Restaurants has a 52-week low of $28.46 and a 52-week high of $74.60. The company has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.22, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.33.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $388.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $377.07 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 2.86% and a return on equity of 12.93%. BJ’s Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that BJ’s Restaurants will post 2.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other BJ’s Restaurants news, EVP Kendra D. Miller sold 10,217 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.31, for a total transaction of $708,140.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 28,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,982,196.69. This represents a 26.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director C Richmond purchased 753 shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 31st. The shares were bought at an average price of $63.25 per share, with a total value of $47,627.25. Following the transaction, the director owned 35,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,245,375. The trade was a 2.17% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 67,784 shares of company stock valued at $4,648,326. 2.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in BJ’s Restaurants during the second quarter worth $30,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new position in BJ’s Restaurants during the second quarter worth $31,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 34.8% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 774 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 275.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,936 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $111,000 after buying an additional 1,421 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

About BJ’s Restaurants

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc (NASDAQ: BJRI) operates and develops casual dining restaurants under the BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse brand. Its restaurants offer a broad menu centered on deep-dish pizza, along with appetizers, salads, sandwiches, burgers, entrees, desserts and other American-style dishes.

The company is also known for producing and serving craft beer, including its proprietary BJ’s beers, at many of its locations. Its restaurants typically combine full-service dining with a brewery-inspired atmosphere and offer dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering services, depending on the location.

BJ’s traces its origins to 1978, when the first restaurant opened in Southern California.