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 currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $82.10.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on PZZA shares. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Papa John’s International from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Papa John’s International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 9th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Papa John’s International from $84.00 to $78.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “sell” rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of Papa John’s International in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, BTIG Research lowered shares of Papa John’s International from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Papa John’s International news, Director Laurette T. Koellner sold 2,886 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.21, for a total value of $202,626.06. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,804 shares in the company, valued at $1,320,228.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 8.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Papa John’s International

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Papa John’s International by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,603,639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $274,705,000 after buying an additional 123,995 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Papa John’s International by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,574,293 shares of the company’s stock valued at $294,201,000 after buying an additional 207,550 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Papa John’s International by 31.9% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,866,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,327,000 after buying an additional 450,885 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Papa John’s International by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,698,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,502,000 after buying an additional 192,149 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Papa John’s International by 7.0% during the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,411,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,275,000 after buying an additional 92,937 shares during the period.

Papa John’s International Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of PZZA stock opened at $61.78 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $69.54 and a 200-day moving average of $69.70. Papa John’s International has a 12-month low of $60.66 and a 12-month high of $86.38. The firm has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.11, a PEG ratio of 1.70 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.18. Papa John’s International had a net margin of 3.84% and a negative return on equity of 19.46%. The company had revenue of $571.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $578.15 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. Papa John’s International’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Papa John’s International will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

Papa John’s International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a $0.46 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 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.