Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday.

Separately, Wolfe Research raised shares of Piper Sandler Companies from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $339.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $312.50.

Piper Sandler Companies Stock Up 1.0%

PIPR opened at $351.12 on Friday. Piper Sandler Companies has a 12-month low of $202.91 and a 12-month high of $374.77. The stock has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.63 and a beta of 1.45. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $332.57.

Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The financial services provider reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.96. Piper Sandler Companies had a net margin of 13.18% and a return on equity of 18.67%. The company had revenue of $405.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $349.40 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.52 EPS. Piper Sandler Companies’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Piper Sandler Companies will post 14.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Piper Sandler Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is a positive change from Piper Sandler Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Piper Sandler Companies’s payout ratio is presently 23.63%.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel John W. Geelan sold 2,000 shares of Piper Sandler Companies stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $322.69, for a total transaction of $645,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 12,645 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,080,415.05. The trade was a 13.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Jonathan J. Doyle sold 3,536 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.84, for a total transaction of $1,120,346.24. Following the transaction, the insider owned 132,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,111,204.40. This represents a 2.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,136 shares of company stock valued at $8,380,342 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Piper Sandler Companies

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in Piper Sandler Companies by 131.9% during the first quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Piper Sandler Companies during the first quarter worth $27,000. CENTRAL TRUST Co acquired a new position in Piper Sandler Companies during the second quarter worth $28,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Piper Sandler Companies by 495.2% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 125 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. Finally, Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Piper Sandler Companies during the second quarter worth $31,000. 72.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Piper Sandler Companies Company Profile

Piper Sandler Companies operates as an investment bank and institutional securities firm that serves corporations, private equity groups, public entities, non-profit entities, and institutional investors in the United States and internationally. It offers investment banking services and institutional sales, trading, and research services for various equity and fixed income products; advisory services, such as mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt private placements, and debt and restructuring advisory; raises capital through equity and debt financings; underwrites municipal issuances; and municipal financial advisory and loan placement services, as well as various over-the-counter derivative products.