Papa Johns International (NASDAQ:PZZA) Hits New 12-Month Low After Analyst Downgrade

Papa Johns International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low on Wednesday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $56.00 to $45.00. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Papa Johns International traded as low as $37.70 and last traded at $38.45, with a volume of 220009 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $39.94.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on PZZA. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $62.00 price objective on shares of Papa Johns International in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Papa Johns International from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. KeyCorp cut Papa Johns International from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Papa Johns International in a report on Friday, December 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.82.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Papa Johns International

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Papa Johns International by 66.9% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Papa Johns International in the 3rd quarter valued at $42,000. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Papa Johns International by 225.4% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 922 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Papa Johns International by 27.5% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the period. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Papa Johns International in the third quarter worth $156,000.

Papa Johns International Stock Down 3.2 %

The company has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a PE ratio of 13.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $47.15 and a 200-day moving average of $47.32.

Papa Johns International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. Papa Johns International had a negative return on equity of 19.61% and a net margin of 4.51%. The firm had revenue of $506.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $497.28 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Papa Johns International, Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current year.

Papa Johns International Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.76%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. Papa Johns International’s payout ratio is 64.11%.

About Papa Johns 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.