BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) Stake Boosted by TCW Group Inc.

TCW Group Inc. increased its stake in BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) by 8.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 149,578 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,012 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in BJ’s Restaurants were worth $5,386,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants during the third quarter worth approximately $42,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in BJ’s Restaurants by 141.0% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 743 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in BJ’s Restaurants during the 3rd quarter worth $67,000. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. bought a new position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants in the third quarter worth $95,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of BJ’s Restaurants during the fourth quarter valued at $95,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Fund 1 Investments, Llc sold 242,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.53, for a total value of $8,598,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 2,326,476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,659,692.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other 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 value of $8,598,260.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 2,326,476 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,659,692.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Brian S. Krakower sold 1,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.56, for a total transaction of $56,896.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $272,105.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 251,313 shares of company stock worth $8,950,178 over the last 90 days. 4.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BJ’s Restaurants Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BJRI traded up $0.18 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $35.03. The company had a trading volume of 384,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 417,539. BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $21.64 and a 1-year high of $38.76. The stock has a market cap of $819.00 million, a PE ratio of 35.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 2.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $34.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.68.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.17. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 6.51% and a net margin of 1.80%. The firm had revenue of $337.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $335.35 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.15 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on BJRI. Benchmark raised their target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a report on Friday, February 16th. TheStreet raised BJ’s Restaurants from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on BJ’s Restaurants from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.30.

BJ’s Restaurants Company 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. The company was formerly known as Chicago Pizza & Brewery, Inc and changed its name to BJ's Restaurants, Inc in August 2004.