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Piper Jaffray Companies said Thursday it plans to raise its regularly quarterly dividend by 20% to 37.5 cents a share, starting in the first quarter of 2018. The increase comes after the broker and asset management company said it approved a new dividend policy, in which it will return from 30% to 50% of its adjusted net income to shareholders each year. As a result, the company plans to declare an annual special dividend payable in the first quarter of each year to reach that target. Based on Thursday’s stock closing price of $69.90, new regular dividend’s annual rate implies a dividend yield of 2.15%, compared with the implied yield for the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF of 1.49% and for the S&P 500 of 1.93%. The stock has run up 20.5% over the past three months, while the financial ETF has gained 3.8% and the S&P 500 has climbed 4.9%.

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Apellis Pharmaceuticals Inc. priced its intial public offering at $14 a share, the midpoint of its $13 to $15 price range. The clinical-stage biotech said it sold 10.7 million shares to raise about $150 million. Citigroup, J.P. Morgan and Evercore ISI were lead underwriters on the deal. Apellis shares will start trading on Nasdaq later Thursday under the ticker symbol “APLS”. Separately, Chinese search engine Sogou Inc. priced its IPO at $13 a share, the top end of its $11 to $13 range. The company sold 45 million shares to raise $585 million. Shares will start trading later Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “SOGO”.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average looked set to open Thursday trade with a triple-digit loss, as investors weighed the prospects of Congressional plan to reform tax policy. Futures for the Dow was down 107 points, or 0.5%, at 23,384, which would put it position to see its worst one-day decline since it fell 234 points, or 1.1%, on Sept. 5, according to FactSet data. Futures for the S&P 500 were down 0.6% at 2,576, while Nasdaq-100 futures were off 0.8% at 6,294. The firm moves lower come after the Nasdaq Composite Index , the Dow and the S&P 500 index finished at all-time highs at the same time for the 27th time in 2017. However, moves higher have been incremental as investors worry about the likelihood of a tax bill passing soon against equity valuations, which have been viewed by many as too rich.

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Shares of Coty Inc. soared 10% in premarket trade Thursday, after the beauty company reported a fiscal first-quarter profit that beat expectations. The company, with brands including Covergirl, Max Factor and Gucci, said the net loss for the quarter to Sept. 30 was $19.7 million, or 3 cents a share, compared with breakeven results in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share came to 10 cents, beating the FactSet consensus of 7 cents. Revenue rose to $2.24 billion from $1.08 billion, in line with the FactSet consensus of $2.24 billion. Luxury sales rose 70% to $764.4 million, beating the FactSet consensus of $756.5 million, consumer beauty sales growth of 82% to $1.04 billion was just shy of the FactSet consensus of $1.06 billion and the seven-fold increase in professional sales to $430.5 million missed expectations of $462.7 million. “While results are likely to be a bit uneven from quarter to quarter going forward, the improving revenue trend gives me confidence that the growth strategy I outlined earlier this year is moving Coty gradually onto a path of full recovery,” said Chief Executive Camillo Pane. The stock, which closed last Friday at the lowest level since February 2014, has tumbled 26% over the past three months, while the S&P 500 has gained 4.9%.

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Travelers Companies Inc. said it estimates fourth-quarter catastrophe losses related to the recent California wildfires of $525 million to $675 million before tax. The estimate includes recoveries from reinsurance. That compares with pre-tax catastrophe losses of $700 million in the third quarter, resulting primarily from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. The insurer said it plans to resume share repurchases, something it had previously suspended while it assessed catastrophe losses. The company is hosting a investor day on Nov. 13. The stock ticked up 0.2% in premarket trade. It has gained 2.6% over the past three months, while the PowerShares KBW Property & Casualty Insurance ETF has slipped 0.6% and the S&P 500 has advanced 4.9%.

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Hewlett Packard Enterprise said Thursday it is raising its quarterly dividend by 15% to 7.50 cents a share. The new payment will be made on or about Jan. 3 to shareholders of record as of Dec. 13. Shares were not yet active premarket, but have gained 0.7% in 2017, while the S&P 500 has gained 16%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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Lululemon Athletica Inc. said Thursday Creative Director Lee Holman has resigned for personal reasons, after three years with the yoga gear seller. Holman will remain until the end of the year. “We’ve developed deep bench strength across the product organization and are excited to realize the powerful opportunities ahead of us as we connect with a growing collective of guests living an active, mindful lifestyle,” said Chief Executive Laurent Potdevin. “The strength of our performance reinforces our leadership in the market we created. I’m energized by the momentum in our business as we enter the holiday season and look forward to sharing the details of our third quarter performance and fourth quarter outlook on December 6th, 2017.” The stock, which was still inactive in premarket trade, has slipped 0.4% over the past three months, while the SPDR S&P Retail ETF has lost 3.9% and the S&P 500 has gained 4.9%.

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Shares of Dish Network Corp. were trending down in premarket trade on Thursday after the company reported third-quarter earnings below Wall Street expectations. The broadband and TV provider reported net income of $297.4 million, or 57 cents per share, down from $318.5 million, or 67 cents per share in the same quarter a year ago. FactSet consensus for per-share earnings was 60 cents. Revenue for the quarter was $3.58 billion, down from $3.77 billion in the year-earlier period, and below FactSet’s $3.60 billion consensus. Dish said that it proactively cut service to 145,000 subscribers in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands because of Hurricane Maria during the quarter. The company reported losing 129,000 pay-TV subscribers, not accounting for the subscribers lost due to the Hurricane. Dish said it is including Sling TV subscribers in a gross pay-TV subscriber number, bringing the subscriber additions to 638,000, compared to 736,000 during the same quarter a year ago. Shares of Dish have declined nearly 16% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 index is up nearly 16% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up more than 19%

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Shares of Vista Outdoor Inc. tumbled 7.8% in premarket trade Thursday, after the gun and outdoor sports products company beat fiscal second-quarter profit expectations, but missed on sales and slashed its full-year outlook. For the quarter to Oct. 1, the company swung to a net loss of $114.7 million, or $2.01 a share, from net income of $73.2 million, or $1.22 a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, such as cost for current and possible transactions, adjusted earnings per share came to 34 cents, above the FactSet consensus of 27 cents. Revenue fell to $587.3 million from $684.3 million, missing the FactSet consensus of $588.8 million. The company cut its fiscal 2018 guidance ranges for adjusted EPS to 50 cents to 60 cents from $1.10 to $1.30 and for revenue to $2.24 billion to $2.26 billion from $2.36 billion to $2.42 billion. “During the second quarter, the competitive environment in ammunition, firearms and shooting-related accessories continued to impact our business,” said Chief Financial Officer Stephan Nolan. He expects the market contraction will have more impact in the second half of the year than the first. Separately, the company named Michael Callahan as chairman. The stock has plunged 17.5% over the past three months through Wednesday, while the S&P 500 has gained 4.9%.

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A gradual increase to interest rates is the best way to deal with inflation and keep economic growth afloat, Loretta Mester, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland told CNBC Thursday. “Obviously we want to be responsible to changes in the economic outlook and as data comes in we are always revising the outlook,” said Mester, a non-voting member of the policy panel this year. The Fed has signaled its readiness to raise interest rates again next month. The central bank has also started rolling off its $4.5 trillion balance sheet built up under its quantitative easing program, in a further effort to normalize monetary policy. Mester said it’s too soon to try to factor in any impact from proposed tax policy changes to the interest-rate outlook without knowing exactly what that policy will look like, although she said she has included some fiscal stimulus in her forecasts, according to CNBC.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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