Bank of New York Mellon Corp Trims Stock Holdings in BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lowered its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 167,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after selling 6,239 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.72% of BJ’s Restaurants worth $5,806,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 40.8% in the fourth quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 92,176 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,319,000 after acquiring an additional 26,722 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 21.0% during the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 296,176 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $10,716,000 after purchasing an additional 51,364 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 298.7% in the fourth quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 141,556 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,097,000 after purchasing an additional 106,054 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 327,259 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $11,785,000 after purchasing an additional 4,163 shares during the period. Finally, First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 199,624 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,188,000 after buying an additional 25,796 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Benchmark lowered BJ’s Restaurants from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.63.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Performance

BJ’s Restaurants stock opened at $29.63 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. has a twelve month low of $21.64 and a twelve month high of $38.87. The company has a market capitalization of $692.84 million, a PE ratio of 29.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 2.12.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The restaurant operator reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.21. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 2.19%. The company had revenue of $349.93 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $349.18 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. BJ’s Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.42 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO C Bradford Richmond bought 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $29.40 per share, with a total value of $73,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 16,905 shares in the company, valued at $497,007. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 4.90% 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.