Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA) Hits New 1-Year Low at $58.12

Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) shares hit a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $58.12 and last traded at $58.27, with a volume of 22434 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $58.31.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on PZZA shares. KeyCorp reduced their price objective 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. BTIG Research cut Papa John’s International from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com cut Papa John’s International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 9th. Wedbush reiterated 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Papa John’s International from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $65.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.60.

Papa John’s International Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $65.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.11.

Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $571.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Papa John’s International, Inc. will post 2.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Papa John’s International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. Papa John’s International’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.80%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Papa John’s International news, Director Laurette T. Koellner sold 2,886 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.21, for a total value of $202,626.06. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,804 shares in the company, valued at $1,320,228.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Papa John’s International

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PZZA. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in Papa John’s International during the 3rd quarter valued at $102,786,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Papa John’s International in the fourth quarter worth $29,204,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Papa John’s International by 11.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,479,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,381,000 after acquiring an additional 353,832 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Papa John’s International by 35.3% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 889,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,838,000 after acquiring an additional 232,177 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Papa John’s International by 5,031.5% in the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 197,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,439,000 after acquiring an additional 193,161 shares during the last quarter.

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.