BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Given Consensus Rating of "Hold" by Brokerages

Shares of BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) have been given an average recommendation of "Hold" by the six research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $39.20.

BJRI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of BJ's Restaurants from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Gordon Haskett raised 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 report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $37.00 to $31.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BJ's Restaurants

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in BJ's Restaurants in the 4th quarter valued at $4,502,000. Emerald Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 583,828 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $20,513,000 after purchasing an additional 14,607 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 198.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 11,603 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $410,000 after purchasing an additional 7,712 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at about $574,000. Finally, Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC purchased a new stake in BJ's Restaurants during the fourth quarter worth about $418,000. 99.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BJ's Restaurants Stock Up 2.2 %

BJ's Restaurants stock traded up $0.72 during trading on Friday, reaching $34.16. The stock had a trading volume of 16,748 shares, compared to its average volume of 351,096. The stock has a market cap of $776.05 million, a PE ratio of 50.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. BJ's Restaurants has a 52-week low of $27.61 and a 52-week high of $41.72. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $34.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.12.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The restaurant operator reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $344.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $336.48 million. BJ's Restaurants had a net margin of 1.23% and a return on equity of 8.76%. On average, analysts predict that BJ's Restaurants will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

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 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.