Jefferies Financial Group Has Lowered Expectations for Papa Johns International (NASDAQ:PZZA) Stock Price

Papa Johns International (NASDAQ:PZZA) had its price objective reduced by Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $42.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a hold rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on PZZA. Bank of America increased their price target on Papa Johns International from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Papa Johns International in a research note on Wednesday. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of Papa Johns International in a research report on Monday. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Papa Johns International from $56.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Papa Johns International from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Eight 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 MarketBeat, Papa Johns International has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.33.

Papa Johns International Stock Down 2.3 %

NASDAQ:PZZA opened at $36.85 on Wednesday. Papa Johns International has a 52-week low of $36.25 and a 52-week high of $78.67. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $45.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.91. The company has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a PE ratio of 12.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.19.

Papa Johns International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $506.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period last year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Papa Johns International will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Papa Johns International Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.99%. Papa Johns International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.11%.

Institutional Trading of Papa Johns International

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. River Road Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Papa Johns International by 88.1% in the 3rd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 2,285,665 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,129,000 after acquiring an additional 1,070,485 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in Papa Johns International by 25.9% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,170,945 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,991,000 after purchasing an additional 446,477 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Papa Johns International in the 2nd quarter worth about $93,586,000. Irth Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Papa Johns International in the 4th quarter valued at about $66,883,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its position in shares of Papa Johns International by 30.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,214,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,042,000 after buying an additional 281,399 shares during the last quarter.

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.