According to data from FE, in the past month SJP places behind GlaxoSmithKline, Prudential, William Hill and Vodafone Group in terms of popularity among fund managers who look at the UK All Companies space.
Over the longer timeframe of one year the wealth manager partnership is ranked 14th, while over six months it is 12th most bought and over three months it comes in at seventh place.
Its accession up the ranks of favoured stock picks in recent months comes as the FTSE-250 listed firm has continued to post bumper results.
It reported a bumper final quarter of 2012 in what was a record year of new business and the first quarter of 2013 saw net assets under management swell by 12% following net new sales of £1.6bn.
Last year also saw it buck the industry-wide decline in approved persons, with a 15.5% increase compared with a 4.8% decrease across the industry.
The group’s success has not gone unnoticed by fund managers either, with Old Mutual’s UK mid cap manager Richard Watts predicting it could consistently see 25% earnings per share growth for the next three quarters.
In the past six months SJP’s share price has risen almost 40% from 401.5p to 561.5p, although it has not been without its corrections – the most noticeable towards the end of May when it tumbled 10% on a placing of 77 million shares by Lloyds Banking Group.
