Axiom Investors LLC DE Reduces Stock Position in Piper Sandler Companies $PIPR

Key Points

• Axiom Investors LLC DE sold 19,971 shares of Piper Sandler Companies, reducing its stake by 35.8% to a total of 35,799 shares valued at approximately $8.87 million.
• Piper Sandler Companies reported earnings per share (EPS) of $2.95 for the last quarter, exceeding estimates by $0.96, with revenue of $405.39 million.
• The company announced a dividend increase from $0.65 to $0.70, set to be paid on September 12th, reflecting a 0.8% dividend yield.

Axiom Investors LLC DE reduced its stake in shares of Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR - Free Report) by 35.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 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 period. Axiom Investors LLC DE owned about 0.20% of Piper Sandler Companies worth $8,866,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of PIPR. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Piper Sandler Companies in the first quarter valued at approximately $49,826,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Piper Sandler Companies by 39,239.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 108,970 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,988,000 after acquiring an additional 108,693 shares in the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 92,527 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Piper Sandler Companies by 16.8% in the first quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 250,507 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $62,041,000 after acquiring an additional 35,953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Piper Sandler Companies by 48.0% in the fourth quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 76,357 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $22,903,000 after acquiring an additional 24,757 shares in the last quarter. 72.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on PIPR shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Piper Sandler Companies in a report on Monday, May 5th. Wolfe Research raised 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, Wall Street Zen raised Piper Sandler Companies from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Piper Sandler Companies has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $312.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Piper Sandler Companies news, General Counsel John W. Geelan sold 2,000 shares of the 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 sale, the general counsel owned 12,645 shares in the company, valued at $4,080,415.05. This represents a 13.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Scott C. Taylor sold 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.86, for a total value of $831,636.00. Following the sale, the director owned 16,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,219,795.34. This represents a 13.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 26,136 shares of company stock worth $8,380,342. Insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

Piper Sandler Companies Price Performance

NYSE PIPR traded down $5.06 on Friday, hitting $332.68. 23,839 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 142,568. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $309.40. Piper Sandler Companies has a 12 month low of $202.91 and a 12 month high of $351.80. The company has a market cap of $5.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.10 and a beta of 1.50.

Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $405.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $349.40 million. Piper Sandler Companies had a return on equity of 18.67% and a net margin of 13.18%.Piper Sandler Companies's revenue was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.52 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Piper Sandler Companies will post 14.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Piper Sandler Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is an increase from Piper Sandler Companies's previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. Piper Sandler Companies's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.94%.

Piper Sandler Companies 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.