BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BJ) gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $86.81, but opened at $88.75. BJ’s Wholesale Club shares last traded at $87.16, with a volume of 164,096 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised BJ’s Wholesale Club from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on BJ’s Wholesale Club from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.94.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 0.76. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $84.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $85.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.59 billion, a PE ratio of 21.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.24 and a beta of 0.24.

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 22nd. The company reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.00 by $0.09. BJ’s Wholesale Club had a return on equity of 36.12% and a net margin of 2.62%. The company had revenue of $5.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. BJ’s Wholesale Club’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. will post 3.83 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at BJ’s Wholesale Club

In other BJ’s Wholesale Club news, SVP Joseph Mcgrail sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.57, for a total transaction of $83,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,133,710.62. This trade represents a 6.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert W. Eddy sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.40, for a total value of $873,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 445,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,395,884.80. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 34,000 shares of company stock worth $2,818,390 in the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BJ’s Wholesale Club

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new stake in BJ’s Wholesale Club during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Davis Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club during the third quarter worth about $25,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 375.6% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in BJ’s Wholesale Club in the third quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in BJ’s Wholesale Club in the second quarter worth approximately $45,000. 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.