Papa Johns International (NASDAQ:PZZA) Receives “Overweight” Rating from Stephens

Stephens restated their overweight rating on shares of Papa Johns International (NASDAQ:PZZA) in a report issued on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has a $62.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. KeyCorp lowered Papa Johns International from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Papa Johns International in a report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Papa Johns International from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Papa Johns International from $56.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.82.

Papa Johns International Stock Up 2.4 %

NASDAQ PZZA opened at $37.70 on Monday. Papa Johns International has a 52-week low of $36.25 and a 52-week high of $78.67. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $46.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.11. The firm has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.19.

Papa Johns International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. Papa Johns International had a negative return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 4.51%. The firm had revenue of $506.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $497.28 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Papa Johns International will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Papa Johns International Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.88%. Papa Johns International’s payout ratio is 64.11%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Papa Johns International

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Moody National Bank Trust Division lifted its position in shares of Papa Johns International by 142.3% during the 4th quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 22,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $930,000 after acquiring an additional 13,297 shares during the period. Atlas Brown Inc. raised its position in shares of Papa Johns International by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 10,453 shares of the company’s stock worth $429,000 after purchasing an additional 546 shares during the last quarter. Irth Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Papa Johns International during the 4th quarter worth approximately $66,883,000. Optimist Retirement Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Papa Johns International during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $286,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Papa Johns International by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 29,673 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,481,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389 shares during the last quarter.

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.