Evercore ISI Raises BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) Price Target to $86.00

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) had its target price lifted by Evercore ISI from $80.00 to $86.00 in a research note released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an in-line rating on the stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on BJ’s Wholesale Club from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Loop Capital restated a hold rating and issued a $80.00 price objective (down from $85.00) on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $90.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, BJ’s Wholesale Club currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $81.18.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Stock Up 5.9 %

Shares of BJ traded up $4.94 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $88.14. The company had a trading volume of 2,706,198 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,553,565. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.14 and a current ratio of 0.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $76.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.84. BJ’s Wholesale Club has a 52 week low of $60.33 and a 52 week high of $88.35. The company has a market capitalization of $11.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 0.27.

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 23rd. The company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.02. BJ’s Wholesale Club had a return on equity of 37.78% and a net margin of 2.59%. The firm had revenue of $4.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.86 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BJ’s Wholesale Club will post 3.9 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Joseph Mcgrail sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total transaction of $77,370.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $998,459.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Joseph Mcgrail sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total value of $77,370.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $998,459.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Robert W. Eddy sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.70, for a total transaction of $843,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 500,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,410,746.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 98,840 shares of company stock valued at $7,408,605 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club during the 1st quarter valued at about $378,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 183.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 24,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,849,000 after purchasing an additional 15,813 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club during the 1st quarter valued at about $140,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club during the 1st quarter valued at about $776,000. Finally, Vista Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 47,832 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,618,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.60% of the company’s stock.

About BJ’s Wholesale Club

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.