American Century Companies Inc. Buys 79,512 Shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) by 12.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 699,434 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 79,512 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 3.07% of BJ’s Restaurants worth $24,575,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BJRI. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BJ’s Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth about $278,000. Cibc World Markets Corp increased its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 126,771 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,454,000 after buying an additional 1,771 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC increased its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 1,251.3% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,297 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $221,000 after buying an additional 5,831 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of BJ’s Restaurants by 198.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 11,603 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $410,000 after acquiring an additional 7,712 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in BJ’s Restaurants during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,502,000. 99.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

BJ’s Restaurants Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BJRI opened at $35.06 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 0.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.61 and a 1-year high of $41.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $796.49 million, a P/E ratio of 51.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 2.10. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $35.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.11.

BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The restaurant operator reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.12. BJ’s Restaurants had a net margin of 1.23% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The business had revenue of $344.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $336.48 million. Equities analysts predict that BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on BJRI shares. Wedbush lifted their price objective on BJ’s Restaurants from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of BJ’s Restaurants from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of BJ’s Restaurants from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Gordon Haskett raised shares of BJ’s Restaurants from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $36.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, BJ’s Restaurants has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.40.

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.