BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Short Interest Update

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,320,000 shares, a decline of 6.4% from the January 15th total of 1,410,000 shares. Currently, 6.5% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 245,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.4 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on BJRI shares. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a report 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 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays raised their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded BJ’s Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BJ’s Restaurants currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.80.

Institutional Trading of BJ’s Restaurants

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,242,137 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $43,642,000 after buying an additional 78,852 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 699,434 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $24,575,000 after acquiring an additional 79,512 shares during the last quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 583,828 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $20,513,000 after acquiring an additional 14,607 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 1.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 493,006 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,056,000 after purchasing an additional 5,075 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC lifted its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 28.4% during the fourth quarter. Cramer Rosenthal Mcglynn LLC now owns 416,709 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $14,641,000 after purchasing an additional 92,285 shares in the last quarter. 99.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BJRI traded up $0.14 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $34.96. 244,077 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 194,912. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.28. BJ’s Restaurants has a 12 month low of $27.61 and a 12 month high of $38.87. The company has a market cap of $797.79 million, a PE ratio of 27.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 2.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $35.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.99.

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.