BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $36.65, but opened at $35.36. BJ’s Restaurants shares last traded at $36.44, with a volume of 24,961 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on BJRI. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of BJ’s Restaurants from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $36.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer lowered shares of BJ’s Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays lifted 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. Finally, Piper Sandler increased 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BJ’s Restaurants has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.00.

BJ’s Restaurants Trading Up 0.2 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market cap of $805.67 million, a P/E ratio of 28.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 2.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.98.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.15). BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 2.24% and a return on equity of 7.98%. The company had revenue of $325.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $324.97 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.16) earnings per share. BJ’s Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at BJ’s Restaurants

In related news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 2,313 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.60, for a total value of $82,342.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. 4.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of BJ’s Restaurants

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 7.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 27,284 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $888,000 after acquiring an additional 1,823 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 493,006 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,056,000 after buying an additional 5,075 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 10.4% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 131,876 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,294,000 after buying an additional 12,432 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 764.9% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 813 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. bought a new stake in BJ’s Restaurants in the third quarter valued at approximately $254,000. 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.