Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Sells 8,356 Shares of Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC reduced its stake in Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) by 13.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 51,866 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,356 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC owned 0.16% of Papa John’s International worth $3,954,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PZZA. American Century Companies Inc. bought a new stake in Papa John’s International in the 1st quarter valued at about $491,000. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Papa John’s International by 209.4% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,415 shares of the company’s stock worth $466,000 after purchasing an additional 2,988 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P. bought a new position in shares of Papa John’s International in the 1st quarter worth $1,664,000. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in Papa John’s International by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in Papa John’s International by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 93,544 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,848,000 after purchasing an additional 1,970 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Benchmark reduced their price objective on shares of Papa John’s International from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. BTIG Research lowered Papa John’s International from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $87.00 price objective on shares of Papa John’s International in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Papa John’s International in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Papa John’s International from $84.00 to $78.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.10.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Laurette T. Koellner sold 2,886 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.21, for a total value of $202,626.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,320,228.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 8.90% of the company’s stock.

Papa John’s International Trading Up 1.9 %

Papa John’s International stock opened at $62.50 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $68.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.47. Papa John’s International, Inc. has a 12 month low of $60.24 and a 12 month high of $86.38. The company has a market cap of $2.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.41, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.14.

Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.18. Papa John’s International had a negative return on equity of 19.46% and a net margin of 3.84%. The firm had revenue of $571.32 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $578.15 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Papa John’s International, Inc. will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Papa John’s International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.94%. Papa John’s International’s payout ratio is 74.80%.

Papa John’s International Company Profile

Papa John's International, Inc operates and franchises pizza delivery and carryout restaurants under the Papa John's trademark in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Domestic Company-Owned Restaurants, North America Commissaries, North America Franchising, and International Operations.