Natixis Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Papa John's International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA)

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in Papa John's International by 38.1%, acquiring an additional 63,416 shares, bringing its total ownership to approximately 0.70% of the company valued at $9.45 million.
• UBS Group recently raised its price target on Papa John's stock from $38.00 to $42.00, while Benchmark and Stephens maintain a buy rating with a target price of $50.00.
• Papa John's announced a quarterly dividend of $0.46 per share, with a dividend yield of 4.6% and a payout ratio of 78.30% for investors of record as of August 18th.

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Papa John's International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA - Free Report) by 38.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 230,014 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 63,416 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.70% of Papa John's International worth $9,449,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Papa John's International during the fourth quarter worth about $17,328,000. Boothbay Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Papa John's International by 124.8% during the fourth quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC now owns 540,694 shares of the company's stock worth $22,206,000 after buying an additional 300,138 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its holdings in shares of Papa John's International by 34.7% during the first quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 776,169 shares of the company's stock worth $31,885,000 after buying an additional 199,840 shares in the last quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Papa John's International during the fourth quarter worth about $7,393,000. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Papa John's International by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 1,358,945 shares of the company's stock worth $55,812,000 after buying an additional 173,316 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stephens increased their price objective on Papa John's International from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Papa John's International in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Loop Capital decreased their price target on Papa John's International from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $42.00 price target (up from $38.00) on shares of Papa John's International in a research note on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Papa John's International from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $51.75.

Papa John's International Price Performance

NASDAQ:PZZA traded down $0.87 on Friday, reaching $43.14. 422,453 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,335,871. Papa John's International, Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.16 and a 52 week high of $60.75. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.50. The firm has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 1.13.

Papa John's International (NASDAQ:PZZA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $529.17 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $515.48 million. Papa John's International had a negative return on equity of 15.72% and a net margin of 3.77%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Papa John's International, Inc. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Papa John's International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. Papa John's International's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 78.30%.

Papa John's International Profile

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.