BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.17 EPS

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The restaurant operator reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.17, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $337.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $335.35 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 5.45% and a net margin of 1.47%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.15 earnings per share.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Performance

NASDAQ BJRI traded up $1.92 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $34.68. The stock had a trading volume of 885,668 shares, compared to its average volume of 385,154. BJ’s Restaurants has a 52-week low of $21.64 and a 52-week high of $38.76. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $34.52 and a 200 day moving average of $32.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market cap of $810.82 million, a P/E ratio of 41.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 2.12.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Fund 1 Investments, Llc sold 242,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total value of $8,598,260.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,326,476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,659,692.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Alex Puchner sold 7,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.25, for a total transaction of $295,022.25. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $467,491.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Fund 1 Investments, Llc sold 242,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total value of $8,598,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,326,476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,659,692.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research report on Friday, February 16th. TheStreet raised BJ’s Restaurants from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Benchmark increased their price objective on BJ’s Restaurants from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays boosted their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on BJ’s Restaurants from $28.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.30.

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. The company was formerly known as Chicago Pizza & Brewery, Inc and changed its name to BJ's Restaurants, Inc in August 2004.