Peregrine Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Papa John's International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA)

Peregrine Capital Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Papa John's International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA - Free Report) by 14.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 116,900 shares of the company's stock after selling 20,209 shares during the quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC owned about 0.36% of Papa John's International worth $8,911,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Papa John's International by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,574,293 shares of the company's stock worth $294,201,000 after purchasing an additional 207,550 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Papa John's International by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,479,644 shares of the company's stock valued at $237,381,000 after acquiring an additional 353,832 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Papa John's International by 31.9% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,866,411 shares of the company's stock valued at $127,327,000 after acquiring an additional 450,885 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in Papa John's International during the 3rd quarter valued at $102,786,000. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in Papa John's International by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,411,248 shares of the company's stock valued at $96,275,000 after acquiring an additional 92,937 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on PZZA shares. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $87.00 target price on shares of Papa John's International in a research report on Friday, March 1st. StockNews.com cut Papa John's International from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 9th. Oppenheimer reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Papa John's International in a research report on Friday, January 5th. BTIG Research cut Papa John's International from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price objective on Papa John's International from $84.00 to $78.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Papa John's International presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $82.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Papa John's International

In other Papa John's International news, Director Laurette T. Koellner sold 2,886 shares of Papa John's International stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.21, for a total transaction of $202,626.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,804 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,320,228.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.

Papa John's International Stock Performance

PZZA stock traded down $1.07 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $63.22. The stock had a trading volume of 927,784 shares, compared to its average volume of 799,019. The stock has a market cap of $2.08 billion, a PE ratio of 25.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.14. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.80. Papa John's International, Inc. has a 52-week low of $60.66 and a 52-week high of $86.38.

Papa John's International (NASDAQ:PZZA - Get Free Report) 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. The company had revenue of $571.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $578.15 million. Papa John's International had a negative return on equity of 19.46% and a net margin of 3.84%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Papa John's International, Inc. will post 2.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Papa John's International Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. Papa John's International's payout ratio is currently 74.80%.

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.