UBS Group Lowers Papa Johns International (NASDAQ:PZZA) Price Target to $45.00

Papa Johns International (NASDAQ:PZZA) had its target price lowered by stock analysts at UBS Group from $56.00 to $45.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. UBS Group’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 18.55% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on PZZA. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Papa Johns International in a report on Friday, December 13th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $62.00 price target on shares of Papa Johns International in a report on Friday, December 13th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Papa Johns International from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded Papa Johns International from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Papa Johns International presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.82.

Papa Johns International Price Performance

Shares of PZZA opened at $37.96 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.32. The company has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.19. Papa Johns International has a one year low of $37.70 and a one year high of $78.67.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Papa Johns International

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Irth Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Papa Johns International in the 4th quarter valued at about $66,883,000. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in Papa Johns International by 85.9% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 190,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,237,000 after acquiring an additional 87,801 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Papa Johns International by 19.3% during the third quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,091,733 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,812,000 after acquiring an additional 176,470 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Papa Johns International by 4.3% during the second quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 985,105 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,280,000 after purchasing an additional 40,996 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Papa Johns International by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 378,676 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,399,000 after purchasing an additional 28,883 shares during the period.

Papa Johns International Company Profile

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.