Venture Visionary Partners LLC Purchases 15,208 Shares of Papa John's International, Inc. $PZZA

Key Points

• Venture Visionary Partners LLC increased its stake in Papa John's International by 18.8%, acquiring an additional 15,208 shares to hold a total of 96,179 shares worth $4.7 million.
• Analysts have issued mixed ratings for Papa John's, with a consensus price target of $52.33 and ratings varying from Buy to Hold, reflecting optimistic growth potential for the company.
• Papa John's recently posted earnings exceeding analyst expectations, reporting $0.41 per share against estimates of $0.34, and achieved a 4.2% year-over-year revenue growth.

Venture Visionary Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Papa John's International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA - Free Report) by 18.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 96,179 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 15,208 shares during the quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC owned 0.29% of Papa John's International worth $4,707,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PZZA. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Papa John's International by 14.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 62,056 shares of the company's stock worth $2,549,000 after acquiring an additional 7,784 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Papa John's International by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 387,699 shares of the company's stock worth $15,923,000 after acquiring an additional 93,561 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Papa John's International by 24,806.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 87,172 shares of the company's stock worth $3,581,000 after acquiring an additional 86,822 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of Papa John's International by 1.1% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 102,399 shares of the company's stock worth $4,207,000 after acquiring an additional 1,148 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Papa John's International in the first quarter worth approximately $230,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PZZA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Papa John's International from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. UBS Group reiterated 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, August 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Papa John's International from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. Stephens reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $52.00 price objective (up previously from $50.00) on shares of Papa John's International in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $60.00 price objective (up previously from $50.00) on shares of Papa John's International in a report on Monday, August 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $52.33.

Papa John's International Price Performance

PZZA opened at $47.92 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.20, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.15. Papa John's International, Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.16 and a 1-year high of $60.75. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.40.

Papa John's International (NASDAQ:PZZA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $529.17 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 company's revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.61 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Papa John's International, Inc. will post 2.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Papa John's International Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 was Monday, August 18th. Papa John's International's dividend payout ratio is presently 81.42%.

About Papa John's 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.