Short Interest in BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Rises By 13.3%

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,300,000 shares, a growth of 13.3% from the March 15th total of 2,030,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 376,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.1 days. Currently, 10.4% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Transactions at BJ’s Restaurants

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BJRI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 37.2% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 30,829 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $873,000 after purchasing an additional 8,363 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 19.2% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 21,113 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $598,000 after purchasing an additional 3,404 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 23.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 7,502 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $210,000 after purchasing an additional 1,423 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 57.0% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 14,264 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $404,000 after purchasing an additional 5,181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 60,302 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,707,000 after purchasing an additional 1,941 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on BJ’s Restaurants from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. TheStreet upgraded BJ’s Restaurants from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup upped their price objective 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 restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Friday, February 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.30.

BJ’s Restaurants Price Performance

NASDAQ:BJRI traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $32.69. 99,336 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 377,994. The company has a market capitalization of $764.95 million, a P/E ratio of 39.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The business has a 50 day moving average of $35.26 and a 200 day moving average of $31.84.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The restaurant operator reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $323.64 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $331.03 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 5.45% and a net margin of 1.47%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.17 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that BJ’s Restaurants will post 1.23 EPS 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. The company was formerly known as Chicago Pizza & Brewery, Inc and changed its name to BJ's Restaurants, Inc in August 2004.