Marc Eliot Cohen Sells 1,088 Shares of LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) Stock

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 1,088 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.72, for a total transaction of $336,975.36. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,362,768. This represents a 19.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Marc Eliot Cohen also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, March 9th, Marc Eliot Cohen sold 2,212 shares of LPL Financial stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.75, for a total transaction of $682,955.00.

LPL Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LPLA opened at $289.62 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $346.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $350.21. The firm has a market cap of $23.19 billion, a PE ratio of 26.31, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.45, a quick ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $262.83 and a 1-year high of $403.58.

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

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On LPL Financial

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meadowbrook Advisors Group LLC bought a new position in LPL Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $203,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its position in LPL Financial by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 32,951 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,769,000 after buying an additional 528 shares during the last quarter. Reflection Asset Management bought a new stake in LPL Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Tobam lifted its position in shares of LPL Financial by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. Tobam now owns 15,505 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,538,000 after buying an additional 1,857 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of LPL Financial by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 10,666 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,809,000 after buying an additional 397 shares during the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on LPLA shares. UBS Group set a $500.00 price target on LPL Financial in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $433.00 to $439.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $426.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $478.00 price target on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, LPL Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $428.71.

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.