LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) Director Sells 1,000 Shares

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Director Matthew Enyedi sold 1,000 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $352.72, for a total transaction of $352,720.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 13,121 shares in the company, valued at $4,628,039.12. The trade was a 7.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

LPL Financial Trading Down 1.7%

LPLA stock traded down $6.18 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $354.17. The company had a trading volume of 1,295,122 shares, compared to its average volume of 964,588. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.56 and a quick ratio of 2.56. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $260.15 and a 52 week high of $400.16. The business has a 50 day moving average of $303.25 and a 200 day moving average of $315.90. The company has a market cap of $28.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.24, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.48.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.39 by $0.45. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 32.80% and a net margin of 5.13%.The business had revenue of $5.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.51 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 35.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 23.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.57%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LPLA. Dodge & Cox increased its position in shares of LPL Financial by 18.6% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 3,948,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,410,454,000 after acquiring an additional 619,715 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in LPL Financial by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,719,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,328,475,000 after purchasing an additional 477,094 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in LPL Financial by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,666,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,103,079,000 after purchasing an additional 289,227 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 37.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,625,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,294,869,000 after purchasing an additional 996,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 36.3% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,636,544 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $793,163,000 after purchasing an additional 702,061 shares in the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on LPLA shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $374.00 to $387.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $300.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $408.00 to $428.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $365.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $408.54.

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.