Papa John's International, Inc. $PZZA Shares Acquired by Ancora Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Ancora Advisors LLC increased its stake in Papa John's International by 25.8%, now holding 81,675 shares valued at approximately $3.36 million.
• Recent analysts' reports suggest a consensus target price of $52.33 for Papa John's stock, with ratings including five "Buy" and six "Hold" recommendations.
• Papa John's reported earnings of $0.41 per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations, with revenues up 4.2% year-over-year.

Ancora Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Papa John's International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA - Free Report) by 25.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 81,675 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 16,755 shares during the quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC owned about 0.25% of Papa John's International worth $3,355,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its stake in shares of Papa John's International by 4,646.7% during the 1st quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 712 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 697 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Papa John's International by 937.8% during the 1st quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 851 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 769 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Papa John's International by 214.7% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,388 shares of the company's stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 947 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Papa John's International by 27.2% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,610 shares of the company's stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Papa John's International by 506.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,122 shares of the company's stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 1,772 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on PZZA. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price objective (up previously from $50.00) on shares of Papa John's International in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Papa John's International from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $42.00 target price (up previously from $38.00) on shares of Papa John's International in a report on Monday, August 4th. Loop Capital decreased their target price on Papa John's International from $60.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Papa John's International from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Papa John's International currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $52.33.

Papa John's International Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of PZZA traded up $0.87 during trading on Friday, reaching $48.24. The company's stock had a trading volume of 752,901 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,041,731. The company has a fifty day moving average of $45.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.26. Papa John's International, Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.16 and a twelve month high of $60.75. The company has a market cap of $1.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.15.

Papa John's International (NASDAQ:PZZA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.07. Papa John's International had a negative return on equity of 14.42% and a net margin of 3.58%.The company had revenue of $529.17 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $515.48 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.61 EPS. Papa John's International's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Papa John's International, Inc. will post 2.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Papa John's International Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were given a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. Papa John's International's dividend payout ratio is presently 81.42%.

Papa John's International Company 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.