T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Has $90.92 Million Stake in Papa John's International, Inc. $PZZA

Key Points

• T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in Papa John's International by 25.1%, now holding over 2.2 million shares valued at approximately $90.9 million.
• The company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.46 per share, representing an annualized dividend yield of 4.2%.
• Analysts have generally rated Papa John's stock as a "Hold," with a consensus price target of $52.33, while the stock recently opened at $44.32.

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Papa John's International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA - Free Report) by 25.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,213,279 shares of the company's stock after selling 739,947 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned about 6.77% of Papa John's International worth $90,922,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Venture Visionary Partners LLC acquired a new position in Papa John's International in the first quarter valued at about $3,326,000. Penn Mutual Asset Management acquired a new position in Papa John's International in the first quarter valued at about $645,000. American Century Companies Inc. acquired a new position in Papa John's International in the first quarter valued at about $1,060,000. Fox Run Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in Papa John's International in the first quarter valued at about $549,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its position in Papa John's International by 4,646.7% in the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 712 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 697 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PZZA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $52.00 price target (up from $50.00) on shares of Papa John's International in a research report on Friday, August 8th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $42.00 target price (up from $38.00) on shares of Papa John's International in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Papa John's International from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Loop Capital dropped their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price target (up from $50.00) on shares of Papa John's International in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $52.33.

Papa John's International Price Performance

Shares of Papa John's International stock traded up $1.93 on Monday, hitting $48.22. The company had a trading volume of 1,558,390 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,317,712. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.13. Papa John's International, Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.16 and a twelve month high of $60.75. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $46.05 and a 200-day moving average of $43.07.

Papa John's International (NASDAQ:PZZA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $515.48 million. Papa John's International had a net margin of 3.58% and a negative return on equity of 14.42%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Papa John's International, Inc. will post 2.19 EPS for the current year.

Papa John's International Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. Papa John's International's dividend payout ratio is 81.42%.

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.