Papa Johns International (NASDAQ:PZZA) Receives “Overweight” Rating from Stephens

Papa Johns International (NASDAQ:PZZA)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Stephens in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $62.00 price target on the stock. Stephens’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 38.42% from the company’s previous close.

PZZA has been the subject of a number of other reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Papa Johns International from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Papa Johns International in a report on Friday. KeyCorp lowered Papa Johns International from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Papa Johns International from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Papa Johns International presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.82.

Papa Johns International Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:PZZA opened at $44.79 on Friday. Papa Johns International has a 52-week low of $39.90 and a 52-week high of $78.67. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.12. The firm has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.61, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.16.

Papa Johns International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $506.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $497.28 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. Papa Johns International’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast 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 large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PZZA. 1832 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Papa Johns International in the 2nd quarter worth about $93,586,000. River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Papa Johns International by 88.1% in the third quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 2,285,665 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,129,000 after acquiring an additional 1,070,485 shares during the last quarter. Cowen AND Company LLC bought a new position in shares of Papa Johns International during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,736,000. Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Papa Johns International by 25.9% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,170,945 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,991,000 after purchasing an additional 446,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in shares of Papa Johns International in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $15,845,000.

About Papa Johns 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.