Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) Receives $82.10 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the eleven research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $82.10.

PZZA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Benchmark dropped their price target on shares of Papa John’s International from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. BTIG Research cut Papa John’s International from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $87.00 target price on shares of Papa John’s International in a report on Friday, March 1st. KeyCorp cut their price target on Papa John’s International from $84.00 to $78.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Papa John’s International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 9th.

Papa John’s International Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:PZZA opened at $60.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.01 billion, a PE ratio of 24.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.14. Papa John’s International has a 1 year low of $60.66 and a 1 year high of $86.38. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $68.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.57.

Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last released 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. The company had revenue of $571.32 million during 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Papa John’s International will post 2.63 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 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.02%. Papa John’s International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.80%.

Insider Activity at Papa John’s International

In other Papa John’s International news, Director Laurette T. Koellner sold 2,886 shares of Papa John’s International stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.21, for a total transaction of $202,626.06. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,320,228.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Moody National Bank Trust Division grew its holdings in shares of Papa John’s International by 22.5% in the 1st quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 8,086 shares of the company’s stock worth $539,000 after purchasing an additional 1,483 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Papa John’s International by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,603,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $274,705,000 after acquiring an additional 123,995 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Papa John’s International by 12.8% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,698,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,502,000 after purchasing an additional 192,149 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA raised its position in Papa John’s International by 30.3% in the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 51,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,945,000 after purchasing an additional 12,037 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd boosted its stake in Papa John’s International by 43.3% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,050,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,042,000 after purchasing an additional 317,500 shares in the last quarter.

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.