Papa Johns International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Papa Johns International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the thirteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $58.33.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PZZA. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Papa Johns International in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Papa Johns International from $55.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Papa Johns International in a report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Papa Johns International from $56.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of Papa Johns International from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th.

Institutional Trading of Papa Johns International

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Papa Johns International by 88.1% during the 3rd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 2,285,665 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070,485 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in Papa Johns International by 25.9% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,170,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,991,000 after buying an additional 446,477 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Papa Johns International in the second quarter valued at about $93,586,000. Irth Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Papa Johns International in the fourth quarter worth about $66,883,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of Papa Johns International by 30.2% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,214,184 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,042,000 after acquiring an additional 281,399 shares during the last quarter.

Papa Johns International Stock Performance

Shares of Papa Johns International stock opened at $36.01 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $44.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.79. Papa Johns International has a one year low of $35.28 and a one year high of $78.67.

Papa Johns International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. Papa Johns International had a net margin of 4.51% and a negative return on equity of 19.61%. The company had revenue of $506.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $497.28 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. Papa Johns International’s quarterly revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Papa Johns International will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Papa Johns International Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.11%. Papa Johns International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.11%.

Papa Johns International Company Profile

Papa John’s International, Inc engages in the operation and franchise of 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 retail sales of pizza and side items, breadsticks, cheese sticks, chicken poppers and wings, dessert items, and canned and bottled beverages.