Analysts Set Papa Johns International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) Target Price at $59.82

Papa Johns International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $58.33.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $62.00 price target on shares of Papa Johns International in a research report on Monday. Bank of America boosted their target price on Papa Johns International from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Papa Johns International from $55.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Papa Johns International in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Papa Johns International from $56.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Papa Johns International

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in Papa Johns International by 66.9% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Papa Johns International in the third quarter worth $42,000. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in Papa Johns International by 225.4% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 922 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its position in Papa Johns International by 27.5% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the period. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Papa Johns International during the third quarter worth about $156,000.

Papa Johns International Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ PZZA opened at $36.85 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $45.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a PE ratio of 12.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.19. Papa Johns International has a 52 week low of $36.25 and a 52 week high of $78.67.

Papa Johns International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $506.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $497.28 million. Papa Johns International had a net margin of 4.51% and a negative return on equity of 19.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Papa Johns International will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

Papa Johns International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.99%. Papa Johns International’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.11%.

About Papa Johns International

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.