BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) Price Target Cut to $78.00

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) had its target price decreased by Evercore ISI from $79.00 to $78.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “in-line” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 3.61% from the stock’s current price.

BJ has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective (down previously from $73.00) on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Gordon Haskett downgraded BJ’s Wholesale Club from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on BJ’s Wholesale Club from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded BJ’s Wholesale Club from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $81.00 to $87.00 in a report on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.40.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Price Performance

Shares of BJ opened at $75.28 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $10.01 billion, a PE ratio of 19.45, a PEG ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $73.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.14 and a current ratio of 0.73. BJ’s Wholesale Club has a twelve month low of $60.33 and a twelve month high of $80.42.

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $5.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.38 billion. BJ’s Wholesale Club had a net margin of 2.64% and a return on equity of 40.84%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that BJ’s Wholesale Club will post 3.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at BJ’s Wholesale Club

In other news, SVP Joseph Mcgrail sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total value of $77,370.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,905 shares in the company, valued at $998,459.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other BJ’s Wholesale Club news, Director Christopher J. Baldwin sold 73,062 shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.95, for a total transaction of $5,402,934.90. Following the sale, the director now owns 173,294 shares in the company, valued at $12,815,091.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Joseph Mcgrail sold 1,000 shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.37, for a total transaction of $77,370.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $998,459.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 98,840 shares of company stock worth $7,408,605. Insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ’s Wholesale Club

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 39.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,013,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,142,898,000 after acquiring an additional 4,548,963 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 1.2% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 12,142,318 shares of the company’s stock valued at $923,666,000 after acquiring an additional 139,425 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,136,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $342,385,000 after buying an additional 590,113 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 3.4% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,445,807 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,581,000 after buying an additional 147,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 10.3% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,940,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $281,229,000 after buying an additional 369,317 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.60% of the company’s stock.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Company Profile

BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates warehouse clubs on the eastern half of the United States. It provides groceries, general merchandise, gasoline and other ancillary services, coupon books, and promotions. The company sells its products through the websites BJs.com, BerkleyJensen.com, and Wellsleyfarms.com, as well as the mobile app.