Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Increases Position in Piper Sandler Companies $PIPR

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR) by 17.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,015 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 443 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in Piper Sandler Companies were worth $838,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its holdings in Piper Sandler Companies by 35.0% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 357,167 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $88,456,000 after buying an additional 92,527 shares in the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Piper Sandler Companies by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 323,483 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $80,114,000 after acquiring an additional 2,620 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC increased its stake in Piper Sandler Companies by 16.8% in the 1st quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 250,507 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,041,000 after purchasing an additional 35,953 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Piper Sandler Companies during the first quarter worth $49,826,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Piper Sandler Companies by 0.6% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 156,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,821,000 after purchasing an additional 992 shares during the last quarter. 72.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on PIPR. Wolfe Research raised Piper Sandler Companies from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $339.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Piper Sandler Companies in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Piper Sandler Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Piper Sandler Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, October 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $312.50.

Piper Sandler Companies Price Performance

Shares of PIPR opened at $327.39 on Monday. Piper Sandler Companies has a fifty-two week low of $202.91 and a fifty-two week high of $374.77. The firm has a market cap of $5.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.63 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $339.27.

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

Piper Sandler Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. This is an increase from Piper Sandler Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Piper Sandler Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.63%.

Insider Activity at Piper Sandler Companies

In related news, insider Jonathan J. Doyle sold 3,536 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 132,910 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,111,204.40. This represents a 2.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Chad R. Abraham sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.33, for a total transaction of $3,193,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 53,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,102,676.14. This represents a 15.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 26,136 shares of company stock valued at $8,380,342. Insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

About Piper Sandler Companies

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.