Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) Shares Acquired by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in Papa John’s International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) by 4.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,808 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 857 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.06% of Papa John’s International worth $1,253,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Public Sector Pension Investment Board bought a new stake in Papa John’s International in the third quarter valued at $2,760,000. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in Papa John’s International in the 3rd quarter worth about $102,786,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Papa John’s International in the third quarter valued at approximately $581,000. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky increased its stake in shares of Papa John’s International by 83.9% in the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 10,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $732,000 after purchasing an additional 4,896 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Papa John’s International by 11.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,479,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,381,000 after buying an additional 353,832 shares during the last quarter.

Insider Activity at Papa John’s International

In other Papa John’s International news, CEO Ravi Thanawala purchased 1,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $52.41 per share, with a total value of $99,579.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 38,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,039,797.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 8.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on PZZA. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Papa John’s International from $78.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of 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. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Papa John’s International in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. BTIG Research cut Papa John’s International from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Wedbush dropped their price target on Papa John’s International from $76.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.80.

Papa John’s International Stock Performance

Papa John’s International stock opened at $43.19 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.17. Papa John’s International, Inc. has a 52 week low of $41.47 and a 52 week high of $86.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.42 billion, a PE ratio of 19.20, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.16.

Papa John’s International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $513.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.68 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Papa John’s International, Inc. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Papa John’s International Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. Papa John’s International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.