Axiom Investors LLC DE Decreases Position in Piper Sandler Companies $PIPR

Key Points

• Axiom Investors LLC DE reduced its stake in Piper Sandler Companies by 35.8%, holding 35,799 shares worth approximately $8.87 million after selling 19,971 shares in the last quarter.
• Wall Street analysts have mixed ratings for Piper Sandler Companies, with one firm upgrading it to "outperform" and another lowering its rating to "hold," reflecting a consensus target price of $312.50.
• Piper Sandler Companies announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.70 per share, payable on September 12, which marks a rise from its previous $0.65 dividend.

Axiom Investors LLC DE trimmed its position in shares of Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR - Free Report) by 35.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 35,799 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 19,971 shares during the quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE owned approximately 0.20% of Piper Sandler Companies worth $8,866,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in Piper Sandler Companies by 227.0% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,619 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $786,000 after purchasing an additional 1,818 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in Piper Sandler Companies by 22.3% during the fourth quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 11,028 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,308,000 after acquiring an additional 2,010 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its stake in Piper Sandler Companies by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 1,394 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $418,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Piper Sandler Companies by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 58,648 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $17,591,000 after acquiring an additional 1,867 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Piper Sandler Companies by 140.2% during the fourth quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 711 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $213,000 after acquiring an additional 415 shares during the last quarter. 72.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PIPR. Wall Street Zen lowered Piper Sandler Companies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded Piper Sandler Companies from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $339.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Piper Sandler Companies currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $312.50.

Insider Transactions at Piper Sandler Companies

In other Piper Sandler Companies news, insider Jonathan J. Doyle sold 3,536 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Scott C. Taylor sold 2,600 shares of Piper Sandler Companies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.86, for a total value of $831,636.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 16,319 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,219,795.34. This trade represents a 13.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 26,136 shares of company stock worth $8,380,342 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

Piper Sandler Companies Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PIPR opened at $327.70 on Monday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $316.38. Piper Sandler Companies has a twelve month low of $202.91 and a twelve month high of $351.80. The company has a market cap of $5.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.65 and a beta of 1.45.

Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The financial services provider reported $2.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.99 by $0.96. Piper Sandler Companies had a return on equity of 18.67% and a net margin of 13.18%.The firm had revenue of $405.39 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $349.40 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.52 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Piper Sandler Companies will post 14.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Piper Sandler Companies Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is 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 23.63%.

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.

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