Investors Buy Large Volume of Papa John’s International Put Options (NASDAQ:PZZA)

Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors bought 43,154 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 2,322% compared to the typical volume of 1,782 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on PZZA shares. Benchmark dropped their price objective on Papa John’s International from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Papa John’s International from $84.00 to $78.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com lowered Papa John’s International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 9th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Papa John’s International from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “sell” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Papa John’s International in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Papa John’s International has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.10.

Papa John’s International Stock Up 1.9 %

Papa John’s International stock opened at $62.50 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.47. The stock has a market cap of $2.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.14. Papa John’s International has a 12-month low of $60.24 and a 12-month high of $86.38.

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

Papa John’s International Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Papa John’s International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Laurette T. Koellner sold 2,886 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 18,804 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,320,228.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 8.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Papa John’s International

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PZZA. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of Papa John’s International during the 3rd quarter valued at about $102,786,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Papa John’s International by 315.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,348,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,023,713 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Papa John’s International by 397.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,127,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,465,000 after purchasing an additional 900,649 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Papa John’s International during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,219,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Papa John’s International during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,204,000.

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.