BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,790,000 shares, a decline of 6.8% from the October 15th total of 1,920,000 shares. Currently, 8.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 365,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.9 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in 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 report on Monday, November 4th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $43.00 price target on shares of BJ's Restaurants in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays reduced their price objective on BJ's Restaurants from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Benchmark cut BJ's Restaurants from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $38.57.

BJ's Restaurants Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of BJRI stock traded down $0.88 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $34.93. The company had a trading volume of 252,449 shares, compared to its average volume of 385,625. BJ's Restaurants has a 1-year low of $27.61 and a 1-year high of $38.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.28. The firm has a market cap of $797.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 2.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $33.83 and a 200 day moving average of $33.68.

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported ($0.13) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $325.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $324.97 million. BJ's Restaurants had a net margin of 2.24% and a return on equity of 7.98%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.16) EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that BJ's Restaurants will post 1.26 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity 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 stock was sold at an average price of $35.60, for a total value of $82,342.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,339 shares of the company's stock, valued at $190,068.40. The trade was a 30.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO C Bradford Richmond acquired 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $29.40 per share, with a total value of $73,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 16,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $497,007. This represents a 17.36 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 4.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. 272 Capital LP bought a new position in shares of BJ's Restaurants during the second quarter worth $1,173,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in BJ's Restaurants in the second quarter valued at about $3,250,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants in the second quarter worth about $187,000. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. raised its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 2.0% during the second quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 302,152 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $10,485,000 after purchasing an additional 5,976 shares during the period. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 142,622 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $4,949,000 after purchasing an additional 8,323 shares in the last quarter. 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.