Papa John’s International Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:PZZA)

Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors purchased 43,154 put options on the company. This is an increase of 2,322% compared to the average daily volume of 1,782 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PZZA. Benchmark lowered their target price on shares of Papa John’s International from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Papa John’s International from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “sell” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Papa John’s International in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $87.00 price objective on shares of Papa John’s International in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded Papa John’s International from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Papa John’s International has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.10.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Laurette T. Koellner sold 2,886 shares of the business’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,320,228.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 8.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Papa John’s International

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Cutler Group LLC CA purchased a new stake in shares of Papa John’s International during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Papa John’s International by 396.5% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 422 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Papa John’s International during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Papa John’s International during the 1st quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Papa John’s International in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000.

Papa John’s International Price Performance

Papa John’s International stock traded up $0.49 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $61.84. The stock had a trading volume of 168,579 shares, compared to its average volume of 784,125. The company has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.78, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $68.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.51. Papa John’s International has a 52 week low of $60.24 and a 52 week high of $86.38.

Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $571.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $578.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Papa John’s International will post 2.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Papa John’s International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. Papa John’s International’s payout ratio is 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.