BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BJ) Short Interest Down 8.3% in March

BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BJ) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,190,000 shares, a decline of 8.3% from the March 15th total of 8,930,000 shares. Approximately 6.2% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,370,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.0 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BJ’s Wholesale Club news, EVP Monica Schwartz sold 13,578 shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.81, for a total transaction of $1,070,082.18. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,067,481.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Robert W. Eddy sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.70, for a total value of $843,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 500,792 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,410,746.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Monica Schwartz sold 13,578 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.81, for a total transaction of $1,070,082.18. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 13,545 shares in the company, valued at $1,067,481.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 97,840 shares of company stock valued at $7,331,235. Insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BJ’s Wholesale Club

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BJ. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 45.3% in the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 491 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in BJ’s Wholesale Club during the 4th quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Huntington National Bank grew its holdings in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 159.9% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 668 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. 98.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BJ shares. 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 for the company in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised BJ’s Wholesale Club from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $81.00 to $87.00 in a report on Monday, April 8th. Gordon Haskett lowered BJ’s Wholesale Club from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $70.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective (down from $73.00) on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.40.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of BJ stock traded up $0.10 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $76.25. 1,002,354 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,392,168. BJ’s Wholesale Club has a 52-week low of $60.33 and a 52-week high of $80.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.26. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $73.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.30.

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

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.