Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA – Get Rating) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $95.09.

Several brokerages have commented on PZZA. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Papa John’s International in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Papa John’s International from $96.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Papa John’s International in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $103.00 price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Papa John’s International from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 7th. Finally, Wedbush decreased their target price on shares of Papa John’s International from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 24th.

Institutional Trading of Papa John’s International

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of Papa John’s International by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 928,912 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,603,000 after acquiring an additional 59,940 shares during the period. Penn Capital Management Company LLC raised its holdings in Papa John’s International by 43.5% during the 1st quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC now owns 156,901 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,836,000 after purchasing an additional 47,575 shares during the last quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. raised its position in shares of Papa John’s International by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. now owns 22,806 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,708,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Papa John’s International in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,565,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Papa John’s International in the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. 99.21% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Papa John’s International Price Performance

Shares of PZZA stock opened at $74.40 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $76.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $81.92. Papa John’s International has a 12 month low of $66.74 and a 12 month high of $97.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.08.

Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $527.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $534.00 million. Papa John’s International had a negative return on equity of 30.45% and a net margin of 3.82%. The business’s revenue was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.95 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Papa John’s International will post 2.8 EPS for the current year.

Papa John’s International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 26th. Investors of record on Monday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 12th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. Papa John’s International’s payout ratio is 75.00%.

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.