Jefferies Financial Group Issues Positive Forecast for BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) Stock Price

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) had its target price increased by Jefferies Financial Group from $105.00 to $110.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on BJ. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $78.00 in a report on Monday, August 26th. Melius Research began coverage on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $90.00 price target for the company. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their price target on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.88.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Stock Performance

Shares of BJ stock opened at $92.50 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.26 billion, a PE ratio of 23.36, a P/E/G ratio of 4.19 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $85.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $85.20. BJ’s Wholesale Club has a 52 week low of $63.73 and a 52 week high of $94.67.

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 22nd. The company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $5.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.15 billion. BJ’s Wholesale Club had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 36.12%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BJ’s Wholesale Club will post 3.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert W. Eddy sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.40, for a total transaction of $873,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 445,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,395,884.80. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Joseph Mcgrail sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.57, for a total transaction of $83,570.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,133,710.62. The trade was a 6.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 34,000 shares of company stock worth $2,818,390. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ’s Wholesale Club

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning increased its stake in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 9,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $817,000 after buying an additional 898 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 99.9% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 764,474 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,151,000 after buying an additional 382,114 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,439,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $531,118,000 after buying an additional 217,385 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 96.8% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 19,840 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,501,000 after buying an additional 9,759 shares during the period. Finally, LVW Advisors LLC purchased a new position in BJ’s Wholesale Club in the 2nd quarter worth about $589,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.60% of the company’s stock.

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.