Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Purchases Shares of 17,951 Papa John's International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Papa John's International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 17,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,368,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned about 0.05% of Papa John's International at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in Papa John's International in the third quarter worth about $102,786,000. Copeland Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Papa John's International in the third quarter worth about $32,219,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Papa John's International by 11.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,479,644 shares of the company's stock worth $237,381,000 after buying an additional 353,832 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Papa John's International by 5,031.5% in the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 197,000 shares of the company's stock worth $13,439,000 after buying an additional 193,161 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Papa John's International by 175.3% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 201,063 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,717,000 after purchasing an additional 128,016 shares in the last quarter.

Papa John's International Stock Performance

Shares of Papa John's International stock traded up $0.19 on Friday, hitting $63.10. 551,955 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 776,746. Papa John's International, Inc. has a 1 year low of $60.24 and a 1 year high of $86.38. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.08 billion, a PE ratio of 25.65, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.14.

Papa John's International (NASDAQ:PZZA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.18. Papa John's International had a net margin of 3.84% and a negative return on equity of 19.46%. The company had revenue of $571.32 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $578.15 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. Papa John's International's revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Papa John's International, Inc. will post 2.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Papa John's International Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. Papa John's International's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.80%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in 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 note on Friday, March 1st. Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Papa John's International in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $75.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Papa John's International from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 9th. BTIG Research downgraded shares of Papa John's International from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Papa John's International from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $65.00 to $60.00 in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Papa John's International currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $81.60.

Insider Activity 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 on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.21, for a total value of $202,626.06. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,804 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,320,228.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 8.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.