PJT Partners (NYSE:PJT) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Shares of PJT Partners Inc. (NYSE:PJT) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $165.19 and last traded at $164.71, with a volume of 955 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $162.79.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PJT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of PJT Partners from $142.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group boosted their target price on PJT Partners from $110.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $128.00 price objective (up previously from $108.00) on shares of PJT Partners in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on PJT Partners from $115.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, PJT Partners has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.80.

PJT Partners Trading Up 2.5 %

The firm has a market cap of $3.95 billion, a PE ratio of 42.31 and a beta of 0.61. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $144.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $124.36.

PJT Partners (NYSE:PJT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $326.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $313.46 million. PJT Partners had a net margin of 8.03% and a return on equity of 18.79%. The business’s revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that PJT Partners Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current year.

PJT Partners Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 4th. PJT Partners’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.38%.

Insider Transactions at PJT Partners

In related news, Director Kievdi Don Cornwell sold 11,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.49, for a total transaction of $1,430,755.14. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 8,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,029,783.11. This represents a 58.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel David Adam Travin sold 1,541 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.18, for a total transaction of $245,296.38. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 26,352 shares of company stock worth $3,382,235 in the last quarter. 11.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On PJT Partners

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PJT. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in shares of PJT Partners by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 3,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $420,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in PJT Partners by 3.5% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 2,220 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of PJT Partners by 0.9% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 11,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,198,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in PJT Partners by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 10,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of PJT Partners by 0.8% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 14,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,601,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.23% of the company’s stock.

About PJT Partners

PJT Partners Inc, an investment bank, provides various strategic and capital markets advisory, restructuring and special situations, and shareholder advisory services to corporations, financial sponsors, institutional investors, and governments worldwide. It offers advisory services to clients on various transactions, including mergers and acquisitions (M&A), spin-offs, activism defense, contested M&A, joint ventures, minority investments, and divestitures.