BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Downgraded to “Market Perform” Rating by Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer cut shares of BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.33.

BJ’s Restaurants Trading Down 3.8 %

NASDAQ BJRI opened at $35.24 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.98. BJ’s Restaurants has a one year low of $27.61 and a one year high of $38.87. The company has a market capitalization of $804.07 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.19, 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.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported ($0.13) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.15). The business had revenue of $325.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $324.97 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 2.24% and a return on equity of 7.98%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.16) earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 2,313 shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were 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 directly owns 5,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,068.40. The trade was a 30.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Emerald Advisers LLC grew its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 569,221 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $18,534,000 after purchasing an additional 4,009 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 27.5% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 529,116 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $18,360,000 after purchasing an additional 114,008 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 buying an additional 5,075 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 342,436 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $11,150,000 after buying an additional 40,284 shares during the period. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC raised its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 528.9% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 155,383 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,059,000 after buying an additional 130,676 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.