Papa John’s International Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:PZZA)

Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) saw some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock traders purchased 8,300 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 93% compared to the average daily volume of 4,301 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on PZZA shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Papa John’s International from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 10th. Wedbush reduced their price objective on shares of Papa John’s International from $76.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Papa John’s International from $55.00 to $45.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of Papa John’s International from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 9th. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Papa John’s International in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.80.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ravi Thanawala purchased 1,900 shares of Papa John’s International stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $52.41 per share, with a total value of $99,579.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 38,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,039,797.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund bought a new position in shares of Papa John’s International in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,368,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Papa John’s International by 35.3% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 889,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,838,000 after acquiring an additional 232,177 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Papa John’s International by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,479,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,381,000 after buying an additional 353,832 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Papa John’s International by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 146,370 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,158,000 after purchasing an additional 14,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in Papa John’s International by 58.8% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 41,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,818,000 after acquiring an additional 15,301 shares during the last quarter.

Papa John’s International Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of PZZA opened at $45.97 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.13. Papa John’s International has a 1 year low of $45.20 and a 1 year high of $86.38. The stock has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a PE ratio of 20.43, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.16.

Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $513.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $544.46 million. Papa John’s International had a net margin of 3.50% and a negative return on equity of 19.46%. The company’s revenue was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Papa John’s International will post 2.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Papa John’s International Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.00%. Papa John’s International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 81.78%.

Papa John’s 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.