Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA) Earns Overweight Rating from Analysts at Stephens

Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA) in a research note published on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $75.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Benchmark decreased their price target 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. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Papa John’s International from $84.00 to $78.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Papa John’s International from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Saturday, March 9th. Wedbush reaffirmed 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. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of Papa John’s International in a research note on Friday, January 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Papa John’s International presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $82.10.

Papa John’s International Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PZZA opened at $61.78 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.11, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.14. Papa John’s International has a 1 year low of $60.66 and a 1 year high of $86.38. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.72.

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

Papa John’s International Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Papa John’s International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.80%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Papa John’s International news, Director Laurette T. Koellner sold 2,886 shares of Papa John’s International stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.21, for a total value of $202,626.06. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,320,228.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 8.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Papa John’s International

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. American Century Companies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Papa John’s International during the first quarter valued at $491,000. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of Papa John’s International by 209.4% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,415 shares of the company’s stock valued at $466,000 after buying an additional 2,988 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Papa John’s International during the first quarter valued at $1,664,000. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in shares of Papa John’s International by 5.5% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 3,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $408,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Papa John’s International by 2.2% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 93,544 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,848,000 after buying an additional 1,970 shares during the last quarter.

About Papa John’s International

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.