BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) Rating Lowered to Hold at Melius Research

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Melius Research from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $100.00 price objective on the stock. Melius Research’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 2.64% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club in a research report on Monday, November 24th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club in a research note on Friday, November 21st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on BJ’s Wholesale Club from $120.00 to $105.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, Barclays cut BJ’s Wholesale Club from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $115.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BJ’s Wholesale Club presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $108.67.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Stock Performance

BJ’s Wholesale Club stock opened at $97.43 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $12.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.33. BJ’s Wholesale Club has a 12 month low of $86.68 and a 12 month high of $121.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $92.14 and its 200-day moving average is $96.04.

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 21st. The company reported $1.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.09 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.35 billion. BJ’s Wholesale Club had a net margin of 2.72% and a return on equity of 28.66%. The company’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.18 EPS. BJ’s Wholesale Club has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.300-4.400 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that BJ’s Wholesale Club will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at BJ’s Wholesale Club

In other BJ’s Wholesale Club news, EVP William C. Werner sold 7,000 shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.09, for a total transaction of $637,630.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 50,498 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,599,862.82. This trade represents a 12.17% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert W. Eddy sold 17,898 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.71, for a total transaction of $1,605,629.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 296,735 shares in the company, valued at $26,620,096.85. This trade represents a 5.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BJ. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 0.3% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 37,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,000,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System raised its holdings in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 0.3% during the second quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 31,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,420,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 3.1% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $361,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,573 shares of the company’s stock worth $592,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC boosted its stake in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC now owns 6,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $600,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.60% of the company’s stock.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Company Profile

BJ’s Wholesale Club, headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts, is a membership-based warehouse retailer offering a wide range of products and services primarily to small businesses and individual consumers. The company operates large-format clubs that provide value-priced groceries, health and beauty products, electronics, home goods, furniture, seasonal items and automotive supplies. In addition to its in-club offerings, BJ’s features fuel stations at many locations and operates an e-commerce platform for online ordering and home delivery.

Founded in 1984 as a division of Zayre Corp., BJ’s Wholesale Club quickly expanded throughout the Northeastern United States.