Papa John’s International Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:PZZA)

Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock investors bought 43,154 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 2,322% compared to the average volume of 1,782 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Papa John’s International

In other Papa John’s International news, Director Laurette T. Koellner sold 2,886 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.21, for a total transaction of $202,626.06. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,804 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,320,228.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 8.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Papa John’s International

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cutler Group LLC CA purchased a new position in shares of Papa John’s International during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Papa John’s International during the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Papa John’s International during the first quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Papa John’s International during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000.

Papa John’s International Trading Up 0.8 %

Papa John’s International stock traded up $0.49 during trading on Friday, reaching $61.84. The company had a trading volume of 168,579 shares, compared to its average volume of 784,125. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.14. Papa John’s International has a 52 week low of $60.24 and a 52 week high of $86.38.

Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $571.32 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $578.15 million. Papa John’s International had a negative return on equity of 19.46% and a net margin of 3.84%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Papa John’s International will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Papa John’s International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. Papa John’s International’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.80%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Benchmark dropped their price target on Papa John’s International from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $87.00 price target on shares of Papa John’s International in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Papa John’s International in a research note on Friday, January 5th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Papa John’s International from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price target on Papa John’s International from $84.00 to $78.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Papa John’s International has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $82.10.

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.