PennyMac Financial price target raised to $136 from $121 at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler analyst Crispin Love raised the firm’s price target on PennyMac Financial (PFSI) to $136 from $121 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. The firm says it has started to see a positive shift in its mortgage universe with 30-year mortgage rates decreasing to 6.3% from 7%-plus earlier in the year and agency spreads tightening materially. While the mortgage market is still not quite at a “normalized” level, the recent trends point to an uptick in activity which we are seeing in mortgage applications volumes, especially on the refinancing side, which are up 38% sequentially.