Atlas Brown Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Papa Johns International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA)

Atlas Brown Inc. grew its stake in shares of Papa Johns International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,453 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 546 shares during the period. Atlas Brown Inc.’s holdings in Papa Johns International were worth $429,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PZZA. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in shares of Papa Johns International by 66.9% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 646 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Papa Johns International during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in Papa Johns International by 225.4% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 922 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Papa Johns International by 27.5% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Papa Johns International in the third quarter worth $156,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on PZZA. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Papa Johns International in a report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Papa Johns International from $56.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America increased their price target on Papa Johns International from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of Papa Johns International in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded Papa Johns International from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Papa Johns International presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.82.

Papa Johns International Stock Performance

NASDAQ PZZA traded down $1.41 on Friday, hitting $36.55. 1,549,103 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,389,959. Papa Johns International, Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.25 and a 52-week high of $78.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $46.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.19.

Papa Johns International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. Papa Johns International had a net margin of 4.51% and a negative return on equity of 19.61%. The company had revenue of $506.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $497.28 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Papa Johns International, Inc. will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Papa Johns International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.03%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. Papa Johns International’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.11%.

Papa Johns International Company Profile

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.