Piper Sandler Initiates Coverage on Shopify (NASDAQ:SHOP)

Stock analysts at Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Shopify (NASDAQ:SHOP) (TSE:SHOP) in a note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm set an “overweight” rating and a $165.00 price target on the software maker’s stock. Piper Sandler’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 34.19% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on SHOP. TD Securities upgraded shares of Shopify from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $159.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Shopify from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. Evercore set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Shopify in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Shopify in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Shopify from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Shopify has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $163.38.

Shopify Price Performance

SHOP stock opened at $122.96 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $133.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $148.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 132.22, a P/E/G ratio of 4.53 and a beta of 2.83. Shopify has a 1 year low of $69.84 and a 1 year high of $182.19.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shopify

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Shopify during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,611,797,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Shopify by 64.3% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 18,923,431 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $2,812,211,000 after buying an additional 7,403,821 shares in the last quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Shopify by 37.0% in the 4th quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 9,506,036 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $1,530,187,000 after buying an additional 2,568,765 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its position in shares of Shopify by 5,193.6% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,066,884 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $238,419,000 after buying an additional 2,027,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Shopify by 19.9% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,731,795 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $1,247,007,000 after acquiring an additional 1,781,530 shares in the last quarter. 69.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Shopify

Here are the key news stories impacting Shopify this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies raised its price target after OpenAI decided not to enable in‑ChatGPT purchases, which Jefferies views as reducing a competitive threat to Shopify’s checkout and payments opportunity. This upgrade supports upside to monetization of AI-driven commerce. Jefferies Raises PT on Shopify (SHOP) Following OpenAI Decision
• Positive Sentiment: Piper Sandler initiated coverage with an “Overweight” rating and a $165 PT (~34% upside from the current level), citing payments and merchant growth as key drivers. Analyst coverage and a constructive PT can attract buyers. Benzinga Coverage Note
• Positive Sentiment: Shopify is embedding AI across commerce—enabling AI assistants to surface merchant catalogs and route transactions through Shopify’s checkout/payments—which could increase GMV capture and revenue per merchant if adoption scales. Shopify Bets Big on AI Commerce: Is it the Next Growth Catalyst?
• Positive Sentiment: Shopify’s Klaviyo integration (Locale Aware Catalogs) strengthens its enterprise and global merchant proposition by automating localized catalogs, pricing and marketing — a product move that targets larger brands and cross‑sell opportunities. Shopify And Klaviyo Integration Highlights Global Ambitions And Valuation Tension
• Positive Sentiment: Longer‑term bullish narratives: commentary (e.g., Motley Fool) places Shopify among AI winners that could materially expand value over several years, supporting a growth story for patient investors. Prediction: 2 AI Stocks Will Be Worth More Than Palantir Technologies in 5 Years
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks notes the stock is up ~14% since the last earnings report, signaling recent momentum but asking whether that trend can continue without clearer earnings leverage. Shopify (SHOP) Up 14% Since Last Earnings Report: Can It Continue?
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks also highlights SHOP has declined ~11% over six months, reflecting recent volatility and investor concern about execution/valuation despite AI momentum. SHOP Declines 11% in 6 Months: Buy, Sell or Hold the Stock?
• Negative Sentiment: Service reliability concern — Downdetector reported outages affecting thousands of users; repeated or high‑impact outages can dent merchant trust and short‑term GMV. Shopify Down for Thousands of Users, Downdetector Reports
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and technical pressure — SHOP trades below its 50‑ and 200‑day moving averages, has a high trailing P/E (~132) and elevated PEG (~4.65), which increases sensitivity to any slowdown in revenue/monetization.

Shopify Company Profile

Shopify is a Canadian commerce technology company that provides a cloud-based platform for businesses to create, manage and scale online and physical retail stores. Its core offering is a software-as-a-service e-commerce platform that enables merchants to build customizable storefronts, manage product catalogs, process orders, and handle inventory. Shopify also supports omnichannel selling through integrated point-of-sale (POS) systems for in-person transactions.

Beyond storefront software, Shopify offers a range of merchant services and tools designed to simplify commerce operations.