BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BJ) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BJ - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,880,000 shares, a drop of 14.3% from the December 31st total of 8,030,000 shares. Approximately 5.3% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,470,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.7 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BJ's Wholesale Club

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in BJ's Wholesale Club by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 6,608 shares of the company's stock valued at $590,000 after purchasing an additional 1,416 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in BJ's Wholesale Club by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,983 shares of the company's stock worth $267,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in BJ's Wholesale Club by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 4,123 shares of the company's stock valued at $368,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of BJ's Wholesale Club by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 39,810 shares of the company's stock worth $3,557,000 after purchasing an additional 826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its position in BJ's Wholesale Club by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 34,645 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,096,000 after purchasing an additional 692 shares during the period. 98.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on BJ's Wholesale Club from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of BJ's Wholesale Club from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of BJ's Wholesale Club from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Citigroup lifted their price target on BJ's Wholesale Club from $94.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their target price on BJ's Wholesale Club from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $94.00.

BJ's Wholesale Club Stock Performance

BJ traded down $0.98 during trading on Friday, hitting $99.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,573,290 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,391,634. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $95.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $88.62. BJ's Wholesale Club has a one year low of $64.06 and a one year high of $100.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm has a market cap of $13.08 billion, a PE ratio of 23.80, a P/E/G ratio of 4.65 and a beta of 0.32.

BJ's Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.29. BJ's Wholesale Club had a net margin of 2.71% and a return on equity of 35.41%. The business had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BJ's Wholesale Club will post 3.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BJ's Wholesale Club Company Profile

BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates warehouse clubs on the eastern half of the United States. It provides groceries, general merchandise, gasoline and other ancillary services, coupon books, and promotions. The company sells its products through the websites BJs.com, BerkleyJensen.com, and Wellsleyfarms.com, as well as the mobile app.