Papa Johns International, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.46 (NASDAQ:PZZA)

Papa Johns International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, January 27th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.46 per share on Friday, February 21st. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.67%.

Papa Johns International has raised its dividend by an average of 17.0% per year over the last three years. Papa Johns International has a dividend payout ratio of 68.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Papa Johns International to earn $2.40 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 76.7%.

Papa Johns International Price Performance

Shares of PZZA stock opened at $39.42 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $42.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.58. The firm has a market cap of $1.29 billion, a PE ratio of 13.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.19. Papa Johns International has a 1-year low of $35.28 and a 1-year high of $76.91.

Papa Johns International (NASDAQ:PZZA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.01. Papa Johns International had a net margin of 4.51% and a negative return on equity of 19.61%. The firm had revenue of $506.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $497.28 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Papa Johns International will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on PZZA. Bank of America raised their target price on Papa Johns International from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. KeyCorp downgraded Papa Johns International from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Papa Johns International from $55.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Papa Johns International from $56.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $62.00 price target on shares of Papa Johns International in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.83.

Papa Johns International Company Profile

Papa John’s International, Inc engages in the operation and franchise of pizza delivery and carryout restaurants. It operates through the following segments: Domestic Company-owned Restaurants, North America Franchising, North America Commissaries, International Operations, and All Others. The Domestic Company-Owned Restaurants segment consists of retail sales of pizza and side items, breadsticks, cheese sticks, chicken poppers and wings, dessert items, and canned and bottled beverages.