Short Interest in BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Drops By 6.3%

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,490,000 shares, a decrease of 6.3% from the December 31st total of 1,590,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 288,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.2 days. Currently, 7.2% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Transactions at BJ’s Restaurants

In other news, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 2,313 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.60, for a total transaction of $82,342.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 5,339 shares in the company, valued at $190,068.40. This represents a 30.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ’s Restaurants

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BJRI. Quarry LP increased its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 764.9% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 813 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 142.9% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,540 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 906 shares in the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants in the 3rd quarter valued at $216,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in BJ’s Restaurants in the third quarter valued at about $219,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 11.4% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,760 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $220,000 after acquiring an additional 693 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BJRI traded up $0.80 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $36.99. 224,270 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 209,237. The firm has a market capitalization of $844.11 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 2.11. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a current ratio of 0.35. BJ’s Restaurants has a 52 week low of $27.61 and a 52 week high of $38.87.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on BJRI. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Gordon Haskett upgraded BJ’s Restaurants from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $36.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Oppenheimer lowered BJ’s Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on BJ’s Restaurants from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.00.

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.