Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA) Trading 6.9% Higher – Still a Buy?

Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) traded up 6.9% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $51.85 and last traded at $51.6260. 1,485,845 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 12% from the average session volume of 1,323,566 shares. The stock had previously closed at $48.29.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Papa John’s International in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $42.00 price target (up from $38.00) on shares of Papa John’s International in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target (up from $50.00) on shares of Papa John’s International in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $50.00 price target (down from $62.00) on shares of Papa John’s International in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Papa John’s International to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.60.

Papa John’s International Trading Down 8.4%

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $48.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.10.

Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.07. Papa John’s International had a net margin of 3.58% and a negative return on equity of 14.42%. The firm had revenue of $529.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $515.48 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.61 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Papa John’s International, Inc. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Papa John’s International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. Papa John’s International’s payout ratio is presently 81.42%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Papa John’s International

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Papa John’s International by 45.7% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 8,922 shares of the company’s stock valued at $419,000 after buying an additional 2,799 shares during the last quarter. A4 Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Papa John’s International during the 3rd quarter worth about $278,000. AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in shares of Papa John’s International by 144.8% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 2,925 shares of the company’s stock worth $141,000 after purchasing an additional 1,730 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its stake in shares of Papa John’s International by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 169,664 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,169,000 after purchasing an additional 1,367 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH increased its stake in shares of Papa John’s International by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 7,702 shares of the company’s stock worth $371,000 after purchasing an additional 904 shares during the last quarter.

About Papa John’s 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.