Wedbush Issues Positive Forecast for BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Stock Price

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) had its price objective lifted by Wedbush from $43.00 to $48.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on BJRI. Piper Sandler boosted 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. Oppenheimer downgraded BJ’s Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on BJ’s Restaurants from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Gordon Haskett raised BJ’s Restaurants from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $36.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BJ’s Restaurants currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.40.

BJ’s Restaurants Trading Up 6.6 %

Shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock opened at $38.09 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $869.21 million, a PE ratio of 30.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 2.11. BJ’s Restaurants has a 52 week low of $27.61 and a 52 week high of $41.72. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $35.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.35.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The restaurant operator reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $344.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $336.48 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 7.98% and a net margin of 2.24%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,242,137 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $43,642,000 after purchasing an additional 78,852 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 837,031 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $29,409,000 after acquiring an additional 161,495 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 699,434 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $24,575,000 after acquiring an additional 79,512 shares during the last quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC grew its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 583,828 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $20,513,000 after acquiring an additional 14,607 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 1.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 493,006 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,056,000 after acquiring an additional 5,075 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

BJ’s Restaurants Company Profile

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.