BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Trading 3.5% Higher - Here's Why

BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI - Get Free Report)'s share price shot up 3.5% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $33.78 and last traded at $33.60. 119,918 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 342,080 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.47.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BJRI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of BJ's Restaurants from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of BJ's Restaurants from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $36.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays lifted their target price on BJ's Restaurants from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer cut BJ's Restaurants from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $40.40.

BJ's Restaurants Price Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average of $35.43 and a 200 day moving average of $34.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.04 and a quick ratio of 0.28. The company has a market cap of $821.48 million, a PE ratio of 53.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 2.10.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in BJ's Restaurants by 764.9% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 813 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 719 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its position in BJ's Restaurants by 23.5% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,902 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in BJ's Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at $108,000. Arizona State Retirement System purchased a new stake in BJ's Restaurants in the 4th quarter worth approximately $200,000. Finally, Two Sigma Securities LLC purchased a new position in BJ's Restaurants in the fourth quarter valued at $201,000. Hedge funds and other 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.