LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Shares Sold by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 183 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $1,549,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LPLA. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of LPL Financial by 36.9% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 4,383 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $801,000 after buying an additional 1,181 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 29.1% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 2,172 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $395,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 21.3% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,392 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $802,000 after purchasing an additional 770 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 176.6% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 6,549 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,216,000 after purchasing an additional 4,181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of LPL Financial during the 1st quarter worth about $58,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at LPL Financial

In other news, CEO Dan H. Arnold sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.35, for a total transaction of $2,563,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 137,044 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,131,229.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Dan H. Arnold sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.35, for a total transaction of $2,563,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 137,044 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,131,229.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 5,574 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.52, for a total value of $1,485,582.48. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 13,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,641,462.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 60,151 shares of company stock valued at $15,911,088 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LPLA has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of LPL Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $254.00 to $315.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $260.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Raymond James began coverage on LPL Financial in a report on Thursday, April 4th. They issued an “underperform” rating for the company. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on LPL Financial from $302.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, LPL Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $268.36.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

LPL Financial stock opened at $260.11 on Wednesday. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $179.00 and a 12-month high of $274.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The company has a market capitalization of $19.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $261.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $240.33.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $3.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.33 by $0.18. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 57.68% and a net margin of 10.61%. The company had revenue of $2.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.55 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.21 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 15.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 12th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 11th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.79%.

LPL Financial Company Profile

LPL Financial Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides an integrated platform of brokerage and investment advisory services to independent financial advisors and financial advisors at enterprises in the United States. Its brokerage offerings include variable and fixed annuities, mutual funds, equities, fixed income, alternative investments, retirement and 529 education savings plans, and insurance.