ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Makes New $250,000 Investment in Piper Sandler Companies $PIPR

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $250,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in Piper Sandler Companies by 28.6% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 216 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Piper Sandler Companies by 0.3% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 47,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,706,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. bought a new stake in shares of Piper Sandler Companies during the first quarter worth approximately $223,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Piper Sandler Companies by 70.3% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,369 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $596,000 after purchasing an additional 978 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Piper Sandler Companies by 43.4% during the first quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 6,545 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,621,000 after purchasing an additional 1,981 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.79% of the company’s stock.

Piper Sandler Companies Price Performance

Piper Sandler Companies stock opened at $341.75 on Friday. Piper Sandler Companies has a 52 week low of $202.91 and a 52 week high of $374.77. The firm has a market cap of $6.05 billion, a PE ratio of 28.84 and a beta of 1.45. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $335.52.

Piper Sandler Companies (NYSE:PIPR) 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 business had revenue of $405.39 million for 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 last year, the firm posted $2.52 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Piper Sandler Companies will post 14.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Piper Sandler Companies Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. This is a positive change from Piper Sandler Companies’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.65. Piper Sandler Companies’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.63%.

Insider Activity at Piper Sandler Companies

In other news, insider Jonathan J. Doyle sold 3,536 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 132,910 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,111,204.40. This represents a 2.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Scott C. Taylor sold 2,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.86, for a total value of $831,636.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,219,795.34. The trade was a 13.74% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 26,136 shares of company stock worth $8,380,342 in the last 90 days. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on PIPR shares. Wolfe Research upgraded Piper Sandler Companies from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $339.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Zacks Research downgraded Piper Sandler Companies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Piper Sandler Companies from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Piper Sandler Companies in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $312.50.

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.