Wedbush Analysts Lift Earnings Estimates for BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI)

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) – Stock analysts at Wedbush boosted their Q1 2025 earnings per share estimates for shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a report issued on Friday, April 26th. Wedbush analyst N. Setyan now anticipates that the restaurant operator will post earnings of $0.25 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $0.23. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $40.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for BJ’s Restaurants’ current full-year earnings is $1.22 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for BJ’s Restaurants’ Q2 2025 earnings at $0.65 EPS and Q4 2025 earnings at $0.55 EPS.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on BJRI. Barclays boosted their price target on BJ’s Restaurants from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. TheStreet upgraded BJ’s Restaurants from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of BJ’s Restaurants in a report on Friday, February 16th. Citigroup upped their price target on BJ’s Restaurants from $28.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on BJ’s Restaurants from $37.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.30.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of BJRI stock opened at $33.44 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $782.50 million, a PE ratio of 40.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 2.12. BJ’s Restaurants has a 52-week low of $21.64 and a 52-week high of $38.76. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $34.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The restaurant operator reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $323.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $331.03 million. BJ’s Restaurants had a return on equity of 5.45% and a net margin of 1.47%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.17 EPS.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. AdvisorShares Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC now owns 18,007 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $422,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 6,487 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $235,000 after purchasing an additional 632 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 5,545 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $200,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 10,511 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 743 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.95% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at BJ’s Restaurants

In related news, VP Alex Puchner sold 7,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.25, for a total value of $295,022.25. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 12,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $467,491.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other BJ’s Restaurants news, VP Alex Puchner sold 7,713 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.25, for a total transaction of $295,022.25. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 12,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $467,491.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Fund 1 Investments, Llc sold 242,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 2,326,476 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,659,692.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.