BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Shares Gap Up - Should You Buy?

BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report) shares gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $34.52, but opened at $36.54. BJ's Restaurants shares last traded at $35.56, with a volume of 26,309 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Gordon Haskett raised BJ's Restaurants from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $36.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price 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 research report on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer lowered shares of BJ's Restaurants from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BJ's Restaurants has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $38.00.

BJ's Restaurants Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $787.41 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 2.10. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $35.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.98.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at BJ's Restaurants

In other news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 2,313 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.60, for a total transaction of $82,342.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 5,339 shares in the company, valued at $190,068.40. The trade was a 30.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 4.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of BJ's Restaurants

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 247.8% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,864 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 1,328 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in BJ's Restaurants by 27.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 529,116 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $18,360,000 after purchasing an additional 114,008 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in BJ's Restaurants during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 3.7% in the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 29,499 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,024,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 111.3% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 46,329 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,608,000 after purchasing an additional 24,400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.95% of the company's stock.

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.