Vident Advisory LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Piper Sandler Companies $PIPR

Key Points

• Vident Advisory LLC decreased its holdings in Piper Sandler Companies by 77.8%, selling 12,263 shares and now owns 3,502 shares valued at approximately $867,000.
• Piper Sandler Companies reported a quarterly earnings of $2.95 per share, exceeding expectations, with a revenue of $405.39 million, up 13.4% year-over-year.
• The company announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.70, reflecting a positive change from the previous dividend of $0.65.

Vident Advisory LLC trimmed its position in shares of Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR - Free Report) by 77.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,502 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 12,263 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC's holdings in Piper Sandler Companies were worth $867,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Piper Sandler Companies during the first quarter valued at approximately $215,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Piper Sandler Companies by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,704 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,660,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Piper Sandler Companies by 58.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 440 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position 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 valued at $38,821,000 after buying an additional 992 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Piper Sandler Companies by 11.6% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 2,015 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $499,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 72.79% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Piper Sandler Companies from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $312.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Piper Sandler Companies

In other news, insider Jonathan J. Doyle sold 3,536 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $316.84, for a total value of $1,120,346.24. Following the sale, the insider directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel John W. Geelan sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $322.69, for a total transaction of $645,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 12,645 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,080,415.05. The trade was a 13.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 26,136 shares of company stock worth $8,380,342. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

Piper Sandler Companies Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE PIPR traded up $1.11 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $335.15. The company had a trading volume of 82,259 shares, compared to its average volume of 103,304. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $319.28. Piper Sandler Companies has a one year low of $202.91 and a one year high of $351.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.28 and a beta of 1.45.

Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The financial services provider reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.99 by $0.96. Piper Sandler Companies had a net margin of 13.18% and a return on equity of 18.67%. The company had revenue of $405.39 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $349.40 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.52 earnings per share. Piper Sandler Companies's revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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 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 yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. Piper Sandler Companies's payout ratio is 23.63%.

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.