Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Stephens

Stephens began coverage on shares of Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA) in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $75.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on PZZA. StockNews.com cut Papa John’s International from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Saturday, March 9th. Benchmark lowered their price objective on shares of Papa John’s International from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Wedbush reissued an outperform rating and issued a $87.00 price objective on shares of Papa John’s International in a research note on Friday, March 1st. BTIG Research cut Papa John’s International from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer restated a market perform rating on shares of Papa John’s International in a research report on Friday, January 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $82.10.

Papa John’s International Stock Up 0.2 %

PZZA opened at $61.90 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.14. Papa John’s International has a twelve month low of $60.66 and a twelve month high of $86.38. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.68.

Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 3.84% and a negative return on equity of 19.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Papa John’s International will post 2.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Papa John’s International Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Papa John’s International’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.80%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Laurette T. Koellner sold 2,886 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.21, for a total transaction of $202,626.06. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,804 shares in the company, valued at $1,320,228.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 8.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Papa John’s International

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 123,995 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Papa John’s International by 6.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 207,550 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 450,885 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $129,502,000 after purchasing an additional 192,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Papa John’s International by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,411,248 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,275,000 after purchasing an additional 92,937 shares in the last quarter.

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.