UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Raises PT on J.C. Penney Company to $32 (JCP)

Piper Jaffray is out with its report today on J.C. Penney JCP, raising its PT from $31 to $32. In a note to clients, Piper Jaffray writes, "We are raising our FQ1 EPS estimate as sales for the first two months of the quarter have tracked ahead of expectations. March same store sales fell 0.3%, ahead of both ours and consensus estimates. February same store sales also exceeded our expectations and so we are raising our comp and margin estimates resulting in a new EPS estimate of $0.25. Separately, we recently released our 21st semi-annual Taking Stock With Teens survey in which JCP's mindshare among average-income teens increased to 2% and mindshare rank increased to No. 12, up from No. 19 in Fall 2010 and No. 21 in Spring 2010. We are maintaining Neutral rating but raising our price target to $32 based on 14x FY12 adj. EPS of $2.27." Shares of JCP closed Thursday at $37.54, up 1.62% from Wednesday's close.