Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA) Lifted to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has $60.00 target price on the stock, down from their previous target price of $65.00.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on PZZA. StockNews.com lowered shares of Papa John’s International from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Saturday, March 9th. Wedbush reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $87.00 price objective on shares of Papa John’s International in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Stephens started coverage on shares of Papa John’s International in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They issued an overweight rating and a $75.00 price objective for the company. BTIG Research lowered shares of Papa John’s International from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Benchmark lowered their price objective 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Papa John’s International presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $81.60.

Papa John’s International Stock Performance

Papa John’s International stock opened at $64.41 on Monday. Papa John’s International has a 52-week low of $60.24 and a 52-week high of $86.38. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $68.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.52. The firm has a market cap of $2.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.18, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.14.

Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Papa John’s International had a net margin of 3.84% and a negative return on equity of 19.46%. The firm had revenue of $571.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $578.15 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Papa John’s International will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Papa John’s International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were given a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. Papa John’s International’s payout ratio is currently 74.80%.

Insider Activity at Papa John’s International

In other news, Director Laurette T. Koellner sold 2,886 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 18,804 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,320,228.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Papa John’s International

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PZZA. Cutler Group LLC CA bought a new stake in shares of Papa John’s International in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in Papa John’s International by 396.5% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 422 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 337 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in Papa John’s International during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Covestor Ltd grew its position in Papa John’s International by 277.8% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 733 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 539 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC grew its position in Papa John’s International by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the period.

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.