BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) Trading Down 4.4% After Insider Selling

Shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BJ) dropped 4.4% during trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $71.86 and last traded at $71.97. Approximately 1,586,578 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 12% from the average daily volume of 1,418,848 shares. The stock had previously closed at $75.28.

Specifically, SVP Joseph Mcgrail sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 12,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $998,459.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Joseph Mcgrail sold 1,000 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $998,459.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Christopher J. Baldwin sold 73,062 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.95, for a total transaction of $5,402,934.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 173,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,815,091.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 98,840 shares of company stock valued at $7,408,605 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on BJ shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on BJ’s Wholesale Club from $79.00 to $78.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded BJ’s Wholesale Club from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $81.00 to $87.00 in a report on Monday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective (down from $73.00) on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Gordon Haskett lowered BJ’s Wholesale Club from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $70.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.40.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Trading Down 3.6 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a market cap of $9.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.26. The company’s 50-day moving average is $73.77 and its 200 day moving average is $69.37.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC boosted its position 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 worth $1,142,898,000 after buying an additional 4,548,963 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its position in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 180.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,615,939 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,071,000 after acquiring an additional 1,684,174 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 145.7% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,422,594 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,792,000 after purchasing an additional 1,436,785 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club during the fourth quarter worth about $89,816,000. Finally, Eaton Vance Management boosted its stake in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 323.5% in the first quarter. Eaton Vance Management now owns 1,719,134 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,230,000 after purchasing an additional 1,313,206 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.60% of the company’s stock.

About BJ’s Wholesale Club

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.