Brokerages Set LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Target Price at $398.86

Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $398.8571.

LPLA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $350.00 target price for the company. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $369.00 to $412.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $396.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $464.00 to $383.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 6th.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

Shares of LPL Financial stock opened at $269.24 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $297.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $324.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.04, a PEG ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 0.50. LPL Financial has a 52 week low of $260.15 and a 52 week high of $403.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a current ratio of 2.56.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.49 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $4.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.98 billion. LPL Financial had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 31.26%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.15 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that LPL Financial will post 22.98 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st were given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.00, for a total value of $94,248.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,415 shares in the company, valued at $1,962,990. This represents a 4.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.01, for a total transaction of $366,311.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 19,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,535,188.03. This represents a 5.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,887 shares of company stock valued at $613,144. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of LPL Financial

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LPLA. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in LPL Financial during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC increased its holdings in LPL Financial by 3,650.0% during the 4th quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 75 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. increased its holdings in LPL Financial by 550.0% during the 4th quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 78 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Core Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in LPL Financial during the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in LPL Financial by 580.0% during the 1st quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Company Profile

LPL Financial (NASDAQ: LPLA) is a U.S.-focused financial services firm that provides brokerage, custodial and advisory platforms to independent financial advisors, registered investment advisers and institutions. Operating primarily as an independent broker-dealer and custodian, the company supports a network of advisors with the operational, compliance and clearing infrastructure needed to manage client accounts and deliver investment advice outside of traditional wirehouse models.

The firm’s product and service offerings include trade execution and clearing, custody services, retirement plan services, model portfolio and advisory platforms, wealth management technology, investment research and product access across equities, fixed income, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and insurance and annuity solutions.