Insider Selling: BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) EVP Sells 8,017 Shares of Stock

by · The Markets Daily

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI – Get Free Report) EVP Brian Krakower sold 8,017 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.61, for a total value of $317,553.37. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 4,409 shares in the company, valued at $174,640.49. The trade was a 64.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BJRI traded up $0.36 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $40.36. 463,087 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 463,897. The stock has a market capitalization of $853.21 million, a P/E ratio of 30.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. has a 52 week low of $28.46 and a 52 week high of $47.02.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The restaurant operator reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.05. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 12.92% and a net margin of 2.23%.The business had revenue of $330.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $335.86 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.13) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BJ’s Restaurants announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, October 30th that allows the company to buyback $75.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 11.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 23.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,362,763 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $102,665,000 after purchasing an additional 640,648 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 103.2% in the 1st quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 1,700,780 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $58,269,000 after buying an additional 863,749 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 576.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,451,883 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $44,326,000 after acquiring an additional 1,237,383 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 48.8% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 935,375 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $28,557,000 after acquiring an additional 306,930 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 886,918 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $27,078,000 after acquiring an additional 62,321 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BJRI. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of BJ’s Restaurants from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 9th. Mizuho upgraded shares of BJ’s Restaurants to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a report on Friday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a report on Monday, October 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BJ’s Restaurants presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.75.

Get Our Latest Research Report on BJ’s Restaurants

BJ’s Restaurants Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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