BJ’s Wholesale Club Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:BJ)

BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:BJ) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Traders purchased 2,732 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 50% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,821 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at BJ’s Wholesale Club

In other BJ’s Wholesale Club news, EVP William C. Werner sold 20,000 shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.41, for a total value of $2,208,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,456,716.28. The trade was a 38.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Allan Steele sold 11,813 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.59, for a total value of $1,270,960.67. Following the sale, the director now owns 24,351 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,619,924.09. This represents a 32.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of BJ’s Wholesale Club

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BJ. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in BJ’s Wholesale Club in the 4th quarter valued at $135,344,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 658.6% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,523,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $136,100,000 after purchasing an additional 1,322,425 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 7.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,357,118 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,184,175,000 after purchasing an additional 966,528 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club during the fourth quarter worth about $85,550,000. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its position in shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club by 4,834.5% during the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 625,205 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,567,000 after purchasing an additional 612,535 shares during the last quarter. 98.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $98.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $80.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club from $123.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. TD Cowen raised their target price on BJ’s Wholesale Club from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on BJ’s Wholesale Club from $108.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.71.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Stock Performance

BJ opened at $110.51 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $14.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.56, a P/E/G ratio of 4.50 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.14. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $104.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.34. BJ’s Wholesale Club has a 1 year low of $71.81 and a 1 year high of $118.40.

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.07. BJ’s Wholesale Club had a net margin of 2.71% and a return on equity of 35.41%. The business had revenue of $5.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.29 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that BJ’s Wholesale Club will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

About BJ’s Wholesale Club

BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc engages in the operation of membership warehouse clubs. Its product categories include grocery, household and pet, television and electronics, furniture, computer and tablets, patio and outdoor living, lawn and garden, baby and kids, toys, home, health and beauty, appliances, and jewelry.