BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BJ) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BJ) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seventeen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $94.00.

BJ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $94.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Price Performance

BJ’s Wholesale Club stock opened at $97.09 on Wednesday. BJ’s Wholesale Club has a 12-month low of $64.06 and a 12-month high of $100.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.34, a P/E/G ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 0.32. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $94.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $88.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.14.

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 21st. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.29. BJ’s Wholesale Club had a net margin of 2.71% and a return on equity of 35.41%. The business had revenue of $5.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.12 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that BJ’s Wholesale Club will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert W. Eddy sold 11,000 shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.47, for a total transaction of $940,170.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 423,792 shares in the company, valued at $36,221,502.24. This trade represents a 2.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BJ’s Wholesale Club

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 10.7% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 9,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $817,000 after buying an additional 898 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in BJ’s Wholesale Club in the third quarter worth $828,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 129.0% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 38,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,215,000 after purchasing an additional 21,957 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 3.5% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,439,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $531,118,000 after purchasing an additional 217,385 shares during the period. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 44.6% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 23,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,971,000 after purchasing an additional 7,374 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 98.60% of the company’s stock.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Company 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.