Victory Capital Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 73,285 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,426 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in BJ’s Restaurants were worth $2,386,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 2.6% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 11,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $409,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 2.8% in the second quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC now owns 29,089 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,009,000 after acquiring an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 142.9% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,540 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 906 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 5.2% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 19,021 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $689,000 after acquiring an additional 936 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 3.7% in the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 29,499 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,024,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at BJ’s Restaurants

In related news, CEO C Bradford Richmond purchased 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $29.40 per share, with a total value of $73,500.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 16,905 shares in the company, valued at $497,007. This trade represents a 17.36 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 2,313 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.60, for a total transaction of $82,342.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 5,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $190,068.40. This represents a 30.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 4.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BJRI. Barclays cut their target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $43.00 price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.57.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of BJRI opened at $35.34 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $806.46 million, a P/E ratio of 28.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 2.10. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.61 and a 1 year high of $38.87. The company’s fifty day moving average is $34.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.70.

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

BJ’s Restaurants Profile

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.