Papa Johns International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) Short Interest Update

Papa Johns International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) saw a significant growth in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,280,000 shares, a growth of 24.4% from the October 31st total of 3,440,000 shares. Approximately 13.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,010,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.2 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Papa Johns International

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Papa Johns International by 2.2% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 27,197 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,812,000 after purchasing an additional 576 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Papa Johns International by 45.9% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 23,021 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,533,000 after buying an additional 7,246 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in Papa Johns International by 20.6% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 30,379 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,023,000 after acquiring an additional 5,199 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Papa Johns International by 65.6% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,325 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Papa Johns International by 16.8% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,609 shares of the company’s stock valued at $170,000 after acquiring an additional 520 shares during the period.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PZZA has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Papa Johns International from $58.00 to $45.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Papa Johns International from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Papa Johns International in a research note on Friday, November 8th. KeyCorp lowered Papa Johns International from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $62.00 price target on shares of Papa Johns International in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Eight equities 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.82.

Papa Johns International Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of PZZA stock opened at $49.83 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.17. The company has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a PE ratio of 17.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.19. Papa Johns International has a twelve month low of $39.90 and a twelve month high of $78.67.

Papa Johns International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $497.28 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. Papa Johns International’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Papa Johns International will post 2.23 EPS for the current year.

Papa Johns International Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.69%. Papa Johns International’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.11%.

Papa Johns International Company Profile

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.