Short Interest in BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Drops By 6.3%

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,490,000 shares, a decline of 6.3% from the December 15th total of 1,590,000 shares. Currently, 7.2% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 288,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.2 days.

BJ’s Restaurants Price Performance

NASDAQ BJRI traded up $0.28 during trading on Friday, hitting $34.30. 182,835 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 237,823. The company has a market capitalization of $782.73 million, a P/E ratio of 27.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 2.10. BJ’s Restaurants has a 12-month low of $27.61 and a 12-month high of $38.87. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The restaurant operator reported ($0.13) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.15). BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 7.98% and a net margin of 2.24%. The business had revenue of $325.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $324.97 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.16) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.26 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on BJRI shares. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of BJ’s Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Gordon Haskett raised BJ’s Restaurants from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $36.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays lifted their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.00.

Insider Activity at BJ’s Restaurants

In other BJ’s Restaurants news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 2,313 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was 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 owns 5,339 shares of the company’s stock, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 4.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of BJ’s Restaurants

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 7.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 27,284 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $888,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 worth $16,056,000 after buying an additional 5,075 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 10.4% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 131,876 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,294,000 after buying an additional 12,432 shares during the period. Quarry LP increased its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 764.9% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 813 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. bought a new position in BJ’s Restaurants during the third quarter valued at $254,000. 99.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.