Domino’s Pizza Inc (NASDAQ:DPZ) Short Interest Update

Domino’s Pizza Inc (NASDAQ:DPZ) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 2,715,762 shares, an increase of 37.6% from the February 26th total of 1,973,090 shares. Approximately 8.1% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 974,376 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Domino’s Pizza from $510.00 to $485.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. UBS Group set a $500.00 target price on shares of Domino’s Pizza and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Barclays reduced their target price on Domino’s Pizza from $405.00 to $370.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. William Blair set a $540.00 price target on Domino’s Pizza in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their price target on Domino’s Pizza from $450.00 to $440.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $475.71.

Domino’s Pizza Stock Down 2.9%

Shares of Domino’s Pizza stock traded down $10.40 on Friday, hitting $348.14. 896,705 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,028,379. Domino’s Pizza has a 12-month low of $346.39 and a 12-month high of $499.08. The company has a market cap of $11.71 billion, a PE ratio of 19.81, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $392.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $410.05.

Domino’s Pizza (NASDAQ:DPZ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 23rd. The restaurant operator reported $5.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.38 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter. Domino’s Pizza had a negative return on equity of 15.28% and a net margin of 12.18%.The business’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.89 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Domino’s Pizza will post 16.74 EPS for the current year.

Domino’s Pizza Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.99 per share. This represents a $7.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. This is a boost from Domino’s Pizza’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.74. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 13th. Domino’s Pizza’s dividend payout ratio is 45.30%.

Institutional Trading of Domino’s Pizza

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DPZ. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Domino’s Pizza by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 243,287 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $109,625,000 after acquiring an additional 3,112 shares during the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Domino’s Pizza by 9.0% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 19,846 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,943,000 after purchasing an additional 1,632 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Domino’s Pizza in the second quarter worth about $712,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Domino’s Pizza by 3.2% in the second quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 5,780 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,605,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Domino’s Pizza by 86.7% during the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 62,340 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $28,088,000 after purchasing an additional 28,958 shares during the last quarter. 94.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Domino’s Pizza

Domino’s Pizza, Inc (NASDAQ: DPZ) is a global pizza delivery and carryout chain founded in 1960 and headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The company specializes in a broad range of hand‐crafted pizzas, including hand-tossed, thin crust and specialty offerings, alongside side items such as chicken wings, sandwiches, pasta, desserts and beverages. Domino’s has built its brand on convenience and speed, leveraging proprietary ordering platforms and its Domino’s Tracker system to provide real-time status updates from order placement through delivery.

Operating predominantly under a franchise model, Domino’s has more than 17,000 stores worldwide, with approximately 95% of outlets owned and operated by independent franchisees.