BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) PT Lowered to $78.00 at Evercore ISI

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) had its target price decreased by Evercore ISI from $79.00 to $78.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. Evercore ISI currently has an in-line rating on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded BJ’s Wholesale Club from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $81.00 to $87.00 in a report on Monday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on BJ’s Wholesale Club from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an equal weight rating and issued a $70.00 price objective (down from $73.00) on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Gordon Haskett cut BJ’s Wholesale Club from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $74.40.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Price Performance

NYSE:BJ opened at $72.55 on Tuesday. BJ’s Wholesale Club has a 52 week low of $60.33 and a 52 week high of $80.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.65 billion, a PE ratio of 18.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.26. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $73.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.37.

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.05. BJ’s Wholesale Club had a return on equity of 40.84% and a net margin of 2.64%. The company had revenue of $5.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.38 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. BJ’s Wholesale Club’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that BJ’s Wholesale Club will post 3.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert W. Eddy sold 11,000 shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.70, for a total transaction of $843,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 500,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,410,746.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other BJ’s Wholesale Club news, Director Christopher J. Baldwin sold 73,062 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.95, for a total value of $5,402,934.90. Following the sale, the director now owns 173,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,815,091.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert W. Eddy sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.70, for a total value of $843,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 500,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,410,746.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 98,840 shares of company stock valued at $7,408,605. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of BJ’s Wholesale Club

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its position in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 1.9% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 32,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,475,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Financial Strategies Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club in the first quarter worth $215,000. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE grew its stake in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 19.4% in the first quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 172,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,080,000 after acquiring an additional 28,152 shares in the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp grew its stake in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 42.4% in the first quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 1,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 3.3% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 12,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $962,000 after acquiring an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.60% of the company’s stock.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Company Profile

BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates warehouse clubs on the eastern half of the United States. It provides groceries, general merchandise, gasoline and other ancillary services, coupon books, and promotions. The company sells its products through the websites BJs.com, BerkleyJensen.com, and Wellsleyfarms.com, as well as the mobile app.