UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Raises PT on J.C. Penney to $37 (JCP)

Piper Jaffray is out with its report today on J.C. Penney JCP, raising its PT from $35 to $37. In a note to clients, Piper Jaffray writes, "We are reiterating our Neutral rating and raising our price target to $37 following the release of FQ1 results on Monday morning. FQ1 EPS of $0.28 beat our and consensus estimates of $0.24 as SG&A expense discipline, share repurchase and a change in interest expense recognition delivered upside. Management raised FY12 guidance to $2.15-2.25 with the recently completed share repurchase program more than offsetting additional restructuring costs due to streamlining supply chain operations. While we believe sales trends are improving due to merchandising initiatives, we believe the company needs to show additional improvement in underlying operations and market share gains to justify a higher multiple." Shares of JCP closed Monday at $37.21, down 3.20% from Friday's close.