Wall Street Zen Downgrades Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR) to Hold

Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $398.00 price objective on shares of Piper Sandler Companies in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Piper Sandler Companies from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Piper Sandler Companies from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $368.00 to $386.00 in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Piper Sandler Companies in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Piper Sandler Companies in a research report on Monday, January 26th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $385.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $389.67.

Piper Sandler Companies Stock Performance

PIPR opened at $323.34 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.45, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a fifty day moving average of $352.39 and a 200 day moving average of $340.47. Piper Sandler Companies has a fifty-two week low of $202.91 and a fifty-two week high of $380.26.

Piper Sandler Companies’s stock is set to split on the morning of Tuesday, March 24th. The 4-1 split was announced on Friday, February 6th. The newly created shares will be issued to shareholders after the market closes on Monday, March 23rd.

Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 6th. The company reported $6.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.72 by $2.16. The firm had revenue of $635.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $516.52 million. Piper Sandler Companies had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 14.77%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 27.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.80 earnings per share.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Piper Sandler Companies news, CEO Chad R. Abraham sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 53,558 shares in the company, valued at $18,006,735.18. The trade was a 5.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, President Debbra L. Schoneman sold 5,240 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.99, for a total value of $1,839,187.60. Following the completion of the sale, the president owned 2,896 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,016,467.04. The trade was a 64.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 14,007 shares of company stock valued at $4,777,109 in the last ninety days. 2.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Piper Sandler Companies

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. grew its position in shares of Piper Sandler Companies by 195.3% in the 2nd quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 2,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $739,000 after buying an additional 1,758 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Piper Sandler Companies by 1,155.7% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 200,149 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,630,000 after acquiring an additional 184,210 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its stake in Piper Sandler Companies by 63.0% in the third quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 24,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,357,000 after acquiring an additional 9,305 shares in the last quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Piper Sandler Companies by 93.7% in the third quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 6,147 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,133,000 after purchasing an additional 2,973 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Piper Sandler Companies by 5.7% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 82,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,944,000 after purchasing an additional 4,421 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.79% of the company’s stock.

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.