Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich Invests $1.98 Million in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich purchased a new stake in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 5,936 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,975,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dodge & Cox raised its holdings in LPL Financial by 77.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 2,701,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,013,060,000 after buying an additional 1,178,249 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the second quarter worth about $402,312,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of LPL Financial by 61.1% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,442,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $915,745,000 after acquiring an additional 926,122 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of LPL Financial by 8.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,986,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,994,798,000 after acquiring an additional 613,909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 444.8% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 551,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $206,825,000 after acquiring an additional 450,326 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,581 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.50, for a total value of $506,710.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 21,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,852,931. This represents a 6.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Matthew Enyedi sold 2,109 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $320.15, for a total transaction of $675,196.35. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 14,121 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,520,838.15. The trade was a 12.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LPLA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $399.00 to $378.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on LPL Financial from $426.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Wolfe Research set a $478.00 target price on LPL Financial in a research report on Friday, January 30th. UBS Group set a $500.00 price target on LPL Financial in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on LPL Financial from $462.00 to $447.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $428.71.

LPL Financial Stock Down 1.1%

LPL Financial stock opened at $313.56 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $25.11 billion, a PE ratio of 28.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 2.45 and a current ratio of 2.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $351.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $351.72. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $262.83 and a twelve month high of $403.58.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $5.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.41. LPL Financial had a net margin of 5.08% and a return on equity of 34.19%. The business had revenue of $4.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.25 EPS. LPL Financial’s revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.90%.

LPL Financial 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.