Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 7,418 Shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BJ)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. trimmed its holdings in BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BJ) by 23.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 24,850 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,418 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in BJ’s Wholesale Club were worth $2,183,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BJ. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 812,783 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,180,000 after buying an additional 20,820 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in BJ’s Wholesale Club during the 4th quarter worth $892,000. Thematics Asset Management boosted its holdings in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Thematics Asset Management now owns 66,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,435,000 after acquiring an additional 992 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,853,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 231.3% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 222,461 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,829,000 after purchasing an additional 155,316 shares during the last quarter. 98.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on BJ shares. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Gordon Haskett raised BJ’s Wholesale Club from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on BJ’s Wholesale Club from $89.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on BJ’s Wholesale Club from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded BJ’s Wholesale Club from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, BJ’s Wholesale Club has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.07.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Price Performance

BJ opened at $81.47 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $85.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.68. BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. has a twelve month low of $63.08 and a twelve month high of $92.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a market capitalization of $10.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.16, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.24.

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 22nd. The company reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $5.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.15 billion. BJ’s Wholesale Club had a net margin of 2.62% and a return on equity of 36.12%. BJ’s Wholesale Club’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. Equities analysts expect that BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. will post 3.84 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at BJ’s Wholesale Club

In other news, EVP Jeff Desroches sold 28,842 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.86, for a total value of $2,591,742.12. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 58,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,252,496.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Robert W. Eddy sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.90, for a total transaction of $955,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 467,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,651,124.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeff Desroches sold 28,842 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.86, for a total value of $2,591,742.12. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 58,452 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,252,496.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 79,438 shares of company stock worth $6,980,938. 2.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BJ’s Wholesale Club 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.