BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Short Interest Update

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,690,000 shares, a decline of 5.6% from the October 31st total of 1,790,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 352,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.8 days. Approximately 8.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on BJRI. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler raised 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. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 2,313 shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO C Bradford Richmond bought 2,500 shares of BJ’s Restaurants stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were bought 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. The trade was a 17.36 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 4.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BJRI. Emerald Advisers LLC increased its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 0.7% during the third quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 569,221 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $18,534,000 after buying an additional 4,009 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 27.5% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 529,116 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $18,360,000 after acquiring an additional 114,008 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 493,006 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $16,056,000 after purchasing an additional 5,075 shares during the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its position in BJ’s Restaurants by 13.3% during the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 342,436 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $11,150,000 after purchasing an additional 40,284 shares during the period. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in BJ’s Restaurants by 528.9% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 155,383 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,059,000 after purchasing an additional 130,676 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

BJ’s Restaurants Trading Down 2.4 %

NASDAQ BJRI opened at $36.42 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. BJ’s Restaurants has a 1-year low of $27.61 and a 1-year high of $38.87. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.81. The company has a market capitalization of $831.10 million, a PE ratio of 29.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 2.08.

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