UBS Group Boosts BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) Price Target to $97.00

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) had its price objective boosted by stock analysts at UBS Group from $89.00 to $97.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. UBS Group’s price target points to a potential upside of 10.05% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on BJ. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on BJ’s Wholesale Club from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Gordon Haskett raised shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on BJ’s Wholesale Club from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $81.18.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Price Performance

BJ stock opened at $88.14 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $11.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.89, a P/E/G ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 0.27. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $76.94 and its 200 day moving average is $70.85. BJ’s Wholesale Club has a 52 week low of $60.33 and a 52 week high of $88.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.14 and a current ratio of 0.74.

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 23rd. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.02. BJ’s Wholesale Club had a return on equity of 37.78% and a net margin of 2.59%. The firm had revenue of $4.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.86 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that BJ’s Wholesale Club will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Christopher J. Baldwin sold 73,062 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.95, for a total value of $5,402,934.90. Following the sale, the director now owns 173,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,815,091.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Christopher J. Baldwin sold 73,062 shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.95, for a total value of $5,402,934.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 173,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,815,091.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert W. Eddy sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.70, for a total transaction of $843,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 500,792 shares in the company, valued at $38,410,746.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 98,840 shares of company stock valued at $7,408,605 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BJ’s Wholesale Club

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cetera Advisors LLC purchased a new position in BJ’s Wholesale Club in the 1st quarter worth about $378,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 183.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 24,442 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,849,000 after acquiring an additional 15,813 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club during the first quarter valued at approximately $140,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in BJ’s Wholesale Club during the first quarter valued at approximately $776,000. Finally, Vista Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 47,832 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,618,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. 98.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.