Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR) Raised to "Buy" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Piper Sandler Companies has been upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "hold" to a "buy" rating, indicating a positive shift in analyst sentiment.
• Wolfe Research also upgraded Piper Sandler from a "peer perform" to an "outperform" rating, setting a target price of $339.00.
• Piper Sandler reported a quarterly earnings per share of $2.95, surpassing analyst expectations and marking a 13.4% year-over-year revenue increase.

Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued on Friday.

Separately, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Piper Sandler Companies currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $312.50.

Piper Sandler Companies Stock Performance

Shares of PIPR stock traded up $3.31 on Friday, hitting $351.12. The stock had a trading volume of 84,571 shares, compared to its average volume of 122,425. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $332.57. The company has a market capitalization of $6.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.63 and a beta of 1.45. Piper Sandler Companies has a one year low of $202.91 and a one year high of $374.77.

Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR - Get Free Report) last released 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 firm had revenue of $405.39 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $349.40 million. Piper Sandler Companies had a return on equity of 18.67% and a net margin of 13.18%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.52 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Piper Sandler Companies will post 14.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel John W. Geelan sold 2,000 shares of the business's 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 sale, the general counsel owned 12,645 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,080,415.05. The trade was a 13.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathan J. Doyle sold 3,536 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.84, for a total value of $1,120,346.24. Following the sale, the insider owned 132,910 shares in the company, valued at $42,111,204.40. The trade was a 2.59% decrease in their position. 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 ninety days. Insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Piper Sandler Companies

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PIPR. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Piper Sandler Companies in the second quarter valued at approximately $59,820,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Piper Sandler Companies in the first quarter valued at approximately $49,826,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Piper Sandler Companies by 1,155.7% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 200,149 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $55,630,000 after buying an additional 184,210 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new stake in Piper Sandler Companies in the second quarter valued at approximately $51,021,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Piper Sandler Companies by 39,239.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 108,970 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $26,988,000 after purchasing an additional 108,693 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.79% of the company's stock.

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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