Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Papa Johns International (NASDAQ:PZZA)

Papa Johns International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors purchased 8,857 call options on the company. This is an increase of 223% compared to the average volume of 2,744 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Papa Johns International

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. River Road Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Papa Johns International by 88.1% during the third quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 2,285,665 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070,485 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Papa Johns International by 25.9% in the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,170,945 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,991,000 after buying an additional 446,477 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Papa Johns International in the second quarter valued at $93,586,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in Papa Johns International by 30.2% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,214,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,042,000 after buying an additional 281,399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 176,470 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PZZA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Papa Johns International in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $62.00 price target on shares of Papa Johns International in a research report on Friday, December 13th. KeyCorp cut Papa Johns International from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Papa Johns International from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Papa Johns International from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Papa Johns International currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.82.

Papa Johns International Price Performance

Shares of PZZA stock traded up $0.67 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $40.76. The stock had a trading volume of 425,239 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,006,049. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.33 billion, a PE ratio of 14.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.16. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.58. Papa Johns International has a twelve month low of $38.25 and a twelve month high of $78.67.

Papa Johns International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $497.28 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Papa Johns International will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Papa Johns International Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Papa Johns International’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.11%.

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.