Brokerages Set BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BJ) Price Target at $74.40

BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BJ) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $74.40.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $70.00 price target (down from $73.00) on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Loop Capital restated a “hold” rating and issued a $80.00 target price (down previously from $85.00) on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $79.00 to $78.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $81.00 to $87.00 in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on BJ’s Wholesale Club from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Stock Performance

BJ’s Wholesale Club stock opened at $75.77 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $74.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.51. 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 $10.07 billion, a PE ratio of 19.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.26. 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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $5.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.38 billion. BJ’s Wholesale Club had a return on equity of 40.84% and a net margin of 2.64%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that BJ’s Wholesale Club will post 3.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BJ’s Wholesale Club news, CEO Robert W. Eddy sold 11,000 shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.70, for a total transaction of $843,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 500,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,410,746.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Christopher J. Baldwin sold 73,062 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.95, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert W. Eddy sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.70, for a total transaction of $843,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 a total of 98,840 shares of company stock valued at $7,408,605 over the last quarter. 2.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of BJ’s Wholesale Club

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 45.3% during the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC purchased a new position in BJ’s Wholesale Club in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 159.9% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 668 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 23.9% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 824 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.