BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.03 EPS

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) announced its earnings results on Friday. The company reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by $0.03, MarketWatch Earnings reports. The firm had revenue of $4.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.90 billion. BJ’s Wholesale Club had a net margin of 2.61% and a return on equity of 47.80%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.99 EPS. BJ’s Wholesale Club updated its FY24 guidance to $3.80-3.92 EPS.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Stock Performance

NYSE:BJ opened at $64.35 on Friday. BJ’s Wholesale Club has a 1-year low of $60.33 and a 1-year high of $78.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.12. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $69.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $67.17. The firm has a market cap of $8.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.37.

Insider Transactions at BJ’s Wholesale Club

In related news, EVP Jeff Desroches sold 33,934 shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.88, for a total transaction of $2,337,373.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 80,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,571,152.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Laura L. Felice sold 46,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.54, for a total transaction of $3,286,176.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 70,340 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,961,783.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Jeff Desroches sold 33,934 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.88, for a total value of $2,337,373.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 80,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,571,152.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 118,653 shares of company stock valued at $8,306,084 in the last 90 days. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BJ. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 12,142,318 shares of the company’s stock worth $923,666,000 after acquiring an additional 139,425 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,445,807 shares of the company’s stock worth $300,581,000 after purchasing an additional 147,014 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 1,684,174 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 145.7% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,422,594 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,792,000 after buying an additional 1,436,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in BJ’s Wholesale Club by 28.4% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,219,929 shares of the company’s stock valued at $150,088,000 after buying an additional 491,047 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on BJ shares. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $73.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 17th. Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 10th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $85.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 23rd. Credit Suisse Group decreased their price objective on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $80.00 to $73.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 17th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $83.00 to $81.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.33.

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 perishable, general merchandise, gasoline, coupon books, promotions, and other ancillary services. The company sells its products through the websites BJs.com, BerkleyJensen.com, and Wellsleyfarms.com, as well as the mobile app.