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

Stephens reaffirmed 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 price objective on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on PZZA. Bank of America increased their price objective on Papa Johns International from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Papa Johns International from $56.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Papa Johns International in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, KeyCorp cut Papa Johns International from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.82.

Papa Johns International Stock Up 2.4 %

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 has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $506.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $497.28 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Papa Johns International will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Papa Johns International Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Papa Johns International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.11%.

Institutional Trading of Papa Johns International

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PZZA. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in shares of Papa Johns International by 1.4% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 103,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,873,000 after purchasing an additional 1,410 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Papa Johns International by 12.2% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $177,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Papa Johns International by 18.1% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,386 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 827 shares in the last quarter. Savoir Faire Capital Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Papa Johns International by 242.4% during the second quarter. Savoir Faire Capital Management L.P. now owns 138,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,503,000 after purchasing an additional 98,005 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in shares of Papa Johns International by 115.0% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 85,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,988,000 after purchasing an additional 45,707 shares in 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.