Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) shares gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after Bank of America lowered their price target on the stock from $78.00 to $69.00. The stock had previously closed at $44.29, but opened at $42.99. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Papa John’s International shares last traded at $42.86, with a volume of 48,197 shares.

PZZA has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Papa John’s International from $77.00 to $58.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 10th. Benchmark cut their price objective on shares of Papa John’s International from $87.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Papa John’s International from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Papa John’s International in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, Wedbush reduced their price target on Papa John’s International from $76.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Papa John’s International

In other news, CEO Ravi Thanawala purchased 1,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $52.41 per share, with a total value of $99,579.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 38,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,039,797.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 8.90% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Papa John’s International

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. CWM LLC grew its stake in Papa John’s International by 65.6% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,325 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Papa John’s International by 20.6% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 30,379 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,023,000 after purchasing an additional 5,199 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Papa John’s International by 45.9% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 23,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,533,000 after purchasing an additional 7,246 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Papa John’s International by 5.7% in the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,724,468 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,850,000 after purchasing an additional 93,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Papa John’s International by 2.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 27,197 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,812,000 after buying an additional 576 shares in the last quarter.

Papa John’s International Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.58. The company has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.16.

Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.09. Papa John’s International had a net margin of 3.50% and a negative return on equity of 19.46%. The firm had revenue of $513.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $544.46 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.68 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Papa John’s International, Inc. will post 2.4 EPS for the current year.

Papa John’s International Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th were issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.28%. Papa John’s International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.78%.

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.