Gordon Haskett Upgrades BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) to Hold

Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI - Free Report) from an underperform rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $36.00 target price on the restaurant operator's stock.

BJRI has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $43.00 price target on shares of BJ's Restaurants in a report on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer lowered BJ's Restaurants from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays raised their price objective on BJ's Restaurants from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on BJ's Restaurants from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $38.00.

BJ's Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BJRI traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $35.31. 177,271 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 216,754. BJ's Restaurants has a 1-year low of $27.61 and a 1-year high of $38.87. The company has a market cap of $805.67 million, a PE ratio of 28.25, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 company's fifty day simple moving average is $35.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.98.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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. Company insiders own 4.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of BJ's Restaurants

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BJRI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in BJ's Restaurants by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 27,284 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 493,006 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $16,056,000 after buying an additional 5,075 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 10.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 131,876 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $4,294,000 after acquiring an additional 12,432 shares during the period. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of BJ's Restaurants by 764.9% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 813 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 719 shares during the period. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. purchased a new stake in BJ's Restaurants during the third quarter valued at about $254,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.