BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Shares Gap Down to $31.95

Shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $31.95, but opened at $31.05. BJ’s Restaurants shares last traded at $31.57, with a volume of 43,917 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BJRI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a report on Thursday. Barclays cut their price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Benchmark lowered BJ’s Restaurants from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.63.

BJ’s Restaurants Trading Down 2.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.03 and a quick ratio of 0.28. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.19. The firm has a market cap of $727.91 million, a P/E ratio of 31.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 2.13.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The restaurant operator reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $349.93 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $349.18 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 2.19%. BJ’s Restaurants’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Creative Planning boosted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 27.1% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,620 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $403,000 after purchasing an additional 2,477 shares during the last quarter. Luxor Capital Group LP bought a new position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,049,000. Armistice Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,602,000. 272 Capital LP bought a new stake in BJ’s Restaurants during the second quarter worth $1,173,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in BJ’s Restaurants in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,228,000. 99.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About BJ’s Restaurants

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. The company was formerly known as Chicago Pizza & Brewery, Inc and changed its name to BJ's Restaurants, Inc in August 2004.