William Blair Equities Analysts Raise Earnings Estimates for BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI)

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) – William Blair raised their Q1 2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note issued on Wednesday, April 24th. William Blair analyst S. Zackfia now anticipates that the restaurant operator will post earnings of $0.07 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $0.05. The consensus estimate for BJ’s Restaurants’ current full-year earnings is $1.22 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for BJ’s Restaurants’ Q2 2024 earnings at $0.50 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $0.21 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $1.25 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $1.67 EPS.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The restaurant operator reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $323.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $331.03 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 5.45% and a net margin of 1.47%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.17 EPS.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on BJRI. Barclays boosted their price objective on BJ’s Restaurants from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Oppenheimer upped their price target on BJ’s Restaurants from $37.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Citigroup upped their price target on BJ’s Restaurants from $28.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Friday, February 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.30.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BJRI opened at $32.59 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $762.61 million, a P/E ratio of 39.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 2.12. BJ’s Restaurants has a 1-year low of $21.64 and a 1-year high of $38.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $34.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.58.

Insider Transactions at BJ’s Restaurants

In other news, VP Alex Puchner sold 7,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.25, for a total value of $295,022.25. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 12,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $467,491.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other BJ’s Restaurants news, major shareholder Fund 1 Investments, Llc sold 242,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total transaction of $8,598,260.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,326,476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,659,692.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Alex Puchner sold 7,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.25, for a total transaction of $295,022.25. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 12,222 shares in the company, valued at $467,491.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Diversified Trust Co lifted its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 6,487 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $235,000 after purchasing an additional 632 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,772,000 after purchasing an additional 1,288 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 40.8% during the 4th quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 92,176 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,319,000 after purchasing an additional 26,722 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 298.7% during the 4th quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 141,556 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,097,000 after purchasing an additional 106,054 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RK Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. RK Capital Management LLC now owns 341,600 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $12,301,000 after purchasing an additional 12,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.95% 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. The company was formerly known as Chicago Pizza & Brewery, Inc and changed its name to BJ's Restaurants, Inc in August 2004.