Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $82.10.

PZZA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Benchmark decreased their price target on Papa John’s International from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. KeyCorp decreased their price target on Papa John’s International from $84.00 to $78.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. BTIG Research downgraded Papa John’s International from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $87.00 price objective on shares of Papa John’s International in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Papa John’s International in a report on Friday, January 5th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Papa John’s International

In other news, Director Laurette T. Koellner sold 2,886 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.21, for a total value of $202,626.06. Following the sale, the director now owns 18,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,320,228.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 8.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Papa John’s International

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PZZA. State of Wyoming grew its holdings in shares of Papa John’s International by 22.1% during the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 807 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Papa John’s International by 0.9% in the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 17,234 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,814,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its stake in Papa John’s International by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Papa John’s International by 38.8% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in Papa John’s International by 5.5% in the first 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 in the last quarter.

Papa John’s International Stock Performance

PZZA opened at $61.78 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $69.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.70. The company has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.11, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.14. Papa John’s International has a one year low of $60.66 and a one year high of $86.38.

Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $571.32 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $578.15 million. Papa John’s International had a negative return on equity of 19.46% and a net margin of 3.84%. Papa John’s International’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Papa John’s International will post 2.63 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. Papa John’s International’s payout ratio is currently 74.80%.

About Papa John’s International

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.