Ambassador Advisors LLC Sells 59,585 Shares of Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA)

Ambassador Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA – Get Rating) by 95.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,948 shares of the company’s stock after selling 59,585 shares during the quarter. Ambassador Advisors LLC’s holdings in Papa John’s International were worth $206,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Papa John’s International by 4.7% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 646,626 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,272,000 after buying an additional 28,783 shares in the last quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Papa John’s International by 17.7% in the 3rd quarter. Ziegler Capital Management LLC now owns 105,492 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,385,000 after purchasing an additional 15,833 shares during the period. Bares Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Papa John’s International by 14.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. now owns 201,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,114,000 after acquiring an additional 25,000 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Papa John’s International by 20.7% during the 2nd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,031,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,149,000 after acquiring an additional 176,801 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in shares of Papa John’s International by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,448,946 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,441,000 after acquiring an additional 77,255 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.21% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Papa John’s International from $100.00 to $96.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 28th. Credit Suisse Group reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $97.00 price target on shares of Papa John’s International in a research report on Monday, February 27th. Stephens upped their target price on Papa John’s International from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 24th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Papa John’s International in a research note on Monday, February 27th. Finally, Wedbush cut their price objective on shares of Papa John’s International from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.33.

Papa John’s International Stock Performance

Shares of PZZA stock opened at $80.35 on Thursday. Papa John’s International, Inc. has a one year low of $66.74 and a one year high of $108.53. The company’s 50-day moving average is $86.67 and its 200 day moving average is $81.60. The company has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.10.

Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $526.23 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $524.08 million. Papa John’s International had a net margin of 3.22% and a negative return on equity of 43.32%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Papa John’s International, Inc. will post 2.92 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 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 6th were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. Papa John’s International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 89.36%.

Papa John’s International Company Profile

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Papa John’s International, Inc operates and franchises pizza delivery and carryout restaurants. It operates through the following segments: Domestic Company-owned Restaurants, North America Franchising, North America Commissaries, International Operations, and All Others. The Domestic Company-Owned Restaurants segment consists of the operations of all domestic company-owned restaurants and derives its revenues principally from retail sales of pizza and side items, including breadsticks, cheese sticks, chicken poppers and wings, dessert items, and canned or bottled beverages.