Papa John's International (NASDAQ:PZZA) Stock Rating Upgraded by Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Papa John's International (NASDAQ:PZZA - Free Report) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $60.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $65.00.

PZZA has been the subject of a number of other reports. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of Papa John's International in a report on Friday, January 5th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Papa John's International from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Papa John's International from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Saturday, March 9th. Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $87.00 target price on shares of Papa John's International in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Benchmark reduced their target price on shares of Papa John's International from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $81.60.

Papa John's International Price Performance

Papa John's International stock traded up $0.72 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $63.22. 658,780 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 792,267. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a 50 day moving average of $68.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.52. Papa John's International has a 12 month low of $60.24 and a 12 month high of $86.38.

Papa John's International (NASDAQ:PZZA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $571.32 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $578.15 million. Papa John's International had a net margin of 3.84% and a negative return on equity of 19.46%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Papa John's International will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

Papa John's International Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 dividend payout ratio is 74.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Papa John's International news, Director Laurette T. Koellner sold 2,886 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were 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 $1,320,228.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Papa John's International

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cutler Group LLC CA purchased a new position in shares of Papa John's International in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in Papa John's International by 396.5% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 422 shares of the company's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Papa John's International in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of Papa John's International by 277.8% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 733 shares of the company's stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Papa John's International by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 819 shares of the company's stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period.

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.