Independent Financial Group LLC Acquires New Position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Independent Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 1,794 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $540,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 42.7% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,153,000 after purchasing an additional 1,055 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 209,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $68,414,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of LPL Financial during the 1st quarter worth $1,636,000. Focus Partners Wealth raised its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 4,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,426,000 after buying an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of LPL Financial during the 1st quarter worth $121,000. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LPLA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on LPL Financial from $374.00 to $387.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on LPL Financial from $464.00 to $383.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $412.00 to $394.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $350.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $395.00 to $391.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, LPL Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $397.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.00, for a total transaction of $94,248.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,415 shares in the company, valued at $1,962,990. This trade 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 hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

LPL Financial Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of LPLA stock opened at $327.38 on Thursday. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $260.15 and a twelve month high of $403.58. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $295.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $317.33. The company has a quick ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.50.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted 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. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 31.26% and a net margin of 4.93%.The firm had revenue of $4.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.98 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.15 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 34.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 23.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

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

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.