HighTower Advisors LLC Raises Position in Papa Johns International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA)

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Papa Johns International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) by 97.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,479 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,128 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Papa Johns International were worth $780,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of PZZA. River Road Asset Management LLC raised its position in Papa Johns International by 88.1% in the 3rd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 2,285,665 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070,485 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Papa Johns International by 25.9% during the second 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 during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Papa Johns International in the second quarter worth approximately $93,586,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Papa Johns International by 30.2% during the 2nd 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. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Papa Johns International by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,091,733 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,812,000 after acquiring an additional 176,470 shares during the period.

Papa Johns International Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PZZA opened at $40.42 on Thursday. Papa Johns International, Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.90 and a 1-year high of $78.67. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $50.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.16.

Papa Johns International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $506.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $497.28 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Papa Johns International, Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Papa Johns International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Papa Johns International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.11%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America increased their target price on Papa Johns International from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Papa Johns International in a research note on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Papa Johns International from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $62.00 target price on shares of Papa Johns International in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered Papa Johns International from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Papa Johns International presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.82.

Papa Johns 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.