Papa John’s Int’l, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) – Equities researchers at Oppenheimer increased their FY2019 EPS estimates for Papa John’s Int’l in a note issued to investors on Thursday, December 19th, Zacks Investment Research reports. Oppenheimer analyst B. Bittner now expects that the company will post earnings of $1.14 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $1.12. Oppenheimer has a “Market Perform” rating on the stock. Oppenheimer also issued estimates for Papa John’s Int’l’s Q4 2019 earnings at $0.35 EPS, FY2020 earnings at $1.43 EPS and FY2021 earnings at $1.64 EPS.
Several other brokerages have also commented on PZZA. CL King initiated coverage on Papa John’s Int’l in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on Papa John’s Int’l to $67.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Papa John’s Int’l from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $58.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, November 4th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Credit Suisse Group lifted their price objective on Papa John’s Int’l to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, MKM Partners lowered Papa John’s Int’l from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $55.00 to $50.00 in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Papa John’s Int’l presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.30.
Shares of PZZA opened at $63.72 on Monday. Papa John’s Int’l has a one year low of $38.29 and a one year high of $65.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.55, a PEG ratio of 6.55 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a fifty day moving average of $61.85 and a 200 day moving average of $52.56.
Papa John’s Int’l (NASDAQ:PZZA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.22 by ($0.01). Papa John’s Int’l had a negative return on equity of 12.34% and a negative net margin of 0.43%. The business had revenue of $403.71 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $384.54 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.19 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year.
In other Papa John’s Int’l news, major shareholder John H. Schnatter sold 1,900,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.60, for a total transaction of $107,540,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder John H. Schnatter sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total value of $5,758,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,789,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $275,789,889.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 2,200,552 shares of company stock valued at $125,434,817 in the last three months. 43.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Capital Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Papa John’s Int’l in the second quarter worth about $34,000. Covington Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Papa John’s Int’l by 560.6% in the third quarter. Covington Capital Management now owns 1,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 981 shares during the period. Massey Quick Simon & CO. LLC bought a new position in shares of Papa John’s Int’l in the third quarter worth about $64,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Papa John’s Int’l in the third quarter worth about $67,000. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Papa John’s Int’l in the third quarter worth about $71,000. 92.13% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
About Papa John’s Int’l
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. It operates through four segments: Domestic Company-Owned Restaurants, North America Commissaries, North America Franchising, and International Operations.