Eagle Asset Management Inc. Invests $4.31 Million in BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 121,313 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $4,310,000. Eagle Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.53% of BJ’s Restaurants as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BJRI. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants during the second quarter worth about $40,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants during the 1st quarter valued at $45,000. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 142.9% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,540 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 906 shares during the last quarter. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in BJ’s Restaurants in the 2nd quarter worth about $57,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC increased its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 247.8% in the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,864 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 1,328 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at BJ’s Restaurants

In other news, CEO C Bradford Richmond bought 2,500 shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $29.40 per share, with a total value of $73,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 16,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $497,007. This trade represents a 17.36 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 2,313 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.60, for a total value of $82,342.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 5,339 shares in the company, valued at $190,068.40. The trade was a 30.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BJRI. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $43.00 price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays dropped their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.57.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Performance

BJRI stock opened at $35.34 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $806.46 million, a P/E ratio of 28.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 2.10. BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.61 and a 1 year high of $38.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.28. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $34.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.70.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last released its 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). The company 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%. BJ’s Restaurants’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.16) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.26 earnings per share for the current year.

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.