Piper Sandler Companies $PIPR Shares Sold by GW&K Investment Management LLC

GW&K Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 296,342 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,767 shares during the period. Piper Sandler Companies makes up approximately 0.9% of GW&K Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. GW&K Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Piper Sandler Companies were worth $100,672,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PIPR. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Piper Sandler Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $79,239,000. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Piper Sandler Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,425,000. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Piper Sandler Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,752,000. Fiera Capital Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Piper Sandler Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,338,000. Finally, Azora Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Piper Sandler Companies in the third quarter valued at approximately $17,178,000. 72.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on PIPR shares. Northland Securities raised Piper Sandler Companies from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $87.50 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $97.00 target price on shares of Piper Sandler Companies in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Piper Sandler Companies in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Piper Sandler Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 11th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Piper Sandler Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $95.06.

Piper Sandler Companies Stock Performance

Shares of Piper Sandler Companies stock opened at $79.17 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $81.65 and a 200 day moving average of $82.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.99, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.41. Piper Sandler Companies has a fifty-two week low of $62.49 and a fifty-two week high of $95.07.

Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.15. Piper Sandler Companies had a return on equity of 21.09% and a net margin of 13.94%.The company had revenue of $469.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $436.30 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.09 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 32.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Piper Sandler Companies will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Piper Sandler Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This is an increase from Piper Sandler Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Piper Sandler Companies’s payout ratio is presently 20.20%.

Piper Sandler Companies Company Profile

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.