Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR) Rating Increased to Buy 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 note released on Sunday morning.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Piper Sandler Companies in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Piper Sandler Companies from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $339.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Piper Sandler Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $312.50.

Piper Sandler Companies Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of NYSE PIPR opened at $325.83 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.50 and a beta of 1.45. Piper Sandler Companies has a 12 month low of $202.91 and a 12 month high of $374.77. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $337.66.

Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The financial services provider reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $405.39 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $349.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.52 earnings per share. Piper Sandler Companies’s revenue was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Piper Sandler Companies will post 14.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Piper Sandler Companies Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. 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. Piper Sandler Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Piper Sandler Companies

In other news, insider Jonathan J. Doyle sold 3,536 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.84, for a total transaction of $1,120,346.24. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 132,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,111,204.40. The trade was a 2.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel John W. Geelan sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.69, for a total transaction of $645,380.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 12,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,080,415.05. The trade was a 13.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 26,136 shares of company stock valued at $8,380,342. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. CENTRAL TRUST Co acquired a new position in shares of Piper Sandler Companies during the second quarter worth $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Piper Sandler Companies during the first quarter worth $27,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Piper Sandler Companies during the second quarter worth $31,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its position in shares of Piper Sandler Companies by 48.1% during the second quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. 72.79% of the stock is 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.