Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) Receives $82.10 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $82.10.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on PZZA shares. Benchmark decreased their price target on shares of Papa John’s International from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Papa John’s International in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $87.00 price target on shares of Papa John’s International in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Stephens assumed coverage on Papa John’s International in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $75.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Papa John’s International in a research report on Friday, January 5th.

Papa John’s International Price Performance

Papa John’s International stock opened at $60.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.14. Papa John’s International has a 12-month low of $60.66 and a 12-month high of $86.38. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $68.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.57.

Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $571.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $578.15 million. Papa John’s International had a negative return on equity of 19.46% and a net margin of 3.84%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Papa John’s International will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

Papa John’s International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Papa John’s International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.80%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Laurette T. Koellner sold 2,886 shares of Papa John’s International stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.21, for a total transaction of $202,626.06. Following 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Papa John’s International

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PZZA. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Papa John’s International during the 3rd quarter worth $102,786,000. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Papa John’s International by 315.0% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,348,724 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,023,713 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Papa John’s International by 397.5% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,127,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,465,000 after buying an additional 900,649 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Papa John’s International during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,219,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Papa John’s International during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,204,000.

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.