Papa Johns International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Papa Johns International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $55.83.

PZZA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Papa Johns International in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. KeyCorp cut shares of Papa Johns International from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Papa Johns International from $56.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Papa Johns International from $55.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Papa Johns International from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd.

Papa Johns International Price Performance

NASDAQ:PZZA opened at $41.76 on Friday. Papa Johns International has a one year low of $35.28 and a one year high of $76.91. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.55, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.19.

Papa Johns International Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.41%. Papa Johns International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.11%.

Institutional Trading of Papa Johns International

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PZZA. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Papa Johns International during the 4th quarter valued at about $320,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Papa Johns International by 131.4% in the fourth quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 576,329 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,670,000 after buying an additional 327,300 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in Papa Johns International by 170.6% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 12,727 shares of the company’s stock valued at $523,000 after buying an additional 8,023 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Papa Johns International during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $287,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its position in Papa Johns International by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,500,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,635,000 after acquiring an additional 102,128 shares during the period.

About Papa Johns 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.