Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR) Now Covered by Analysts at Bank of America

Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR) in a report published on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage issued an underperform rating and a $385.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Piper Sandler Companies in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Piper Sandler Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $368.00 to $386.00 in a report on Monday, November 10th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $398.00 price target on shares of Piper Sandler Companies in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Piper Sandler Companies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 12th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Piper Sandler Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $389.67.

Piper Sandler Companies Price Performance

Piper Sandler Companies stock opened at $355.87 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $346.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $336.25. Piper Sandler Companies has a 52-week low of $202.91 and a 52-week high of $380.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.82 and a beta of 1.54.

Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The company reported $3.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.96 by $0.86. The company had revenue of $455.31 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $408.40 million. Piper Sandler Companies had a net margin of 13.73% and a return on equity of 19.91%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.57 EPS.

Piper Sandler Companies Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 25th were given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 25th. Piper Sandler Companies’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.10%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Katherine Patricia Clune sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.69, for a total value of $443,851.23. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,425 shares in the company, valued at $3,384,893.25. This represents a 11.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Chad R. Abraham sold 3,000 shares of Piper Sandler Companies stock in a transaction on Friday, November 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.21, for a total transaction of $1,008,630.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 53,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,006,735.18. This represents a 5.30% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 11,267 shares of company stock valued at $3,763,746. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Piper Sandler Companies by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,386 shares of the company’s stock valued at $471,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Piper Sandler Companies by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 462 shares of the company’s stock worth $157,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Piper Sandler Companies by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $150,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Piper Sandler Companies by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,088 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,408,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Piper Sandler Companies in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $70,000. 72.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Piper Sandler Companies

Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE: PIPR) is an investment bank and institutional securities firm that provides a range of capital markets and advisory services to corporations, institutions, municipalities and high-net-worth individuals. The firm’s core activities include investment banking and M&A advisory, underwriting and distribution of equity and debt securities, public finance, and sector-focused advisory across industries such as healthcare, energy, financial services and technology.

In addition to traditional investment banking, Piper Sandler offers equity and fixed income research, institutional sales and trading, and market-making services.