Short Interest in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Declines By 15.1%

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) saw a significant decrease in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,070,000 shares, a decrease of 15.1% from the March 31st total of 1,260,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 532,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on LPLA shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on LPL Financial from $260.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. JMP Securities upped 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. Barclays lifted their price objective on LPL Financial from $302.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Raymond James initiated coverage on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. They issued an “underperform” rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised LPL Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $254.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, LPL Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $276.00.

Insider Transactions at LPL Financial

In other news, CEO Dan H. Arnold sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 137,044 shares in the company, valued at $35,131,229.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Dan H. Arnold sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.35, for a total transaction of $2,563,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 137,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,131,229.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 5,574 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.52, for a total transaction of $1,485,582.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,663 shares in the company, valued at $3,641,462.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 60,151 shares of company stock worth $15,911,088. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in LPL Financial by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,141,049 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,625,446,000 after purchasing an additional 48,439 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 2,145,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $509,945,000 after buying an additional 79,869 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in LPL Financial by 17.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,099,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $261,322,000 after buying an additional 161,485 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its holdings in LPL Financial by 21.5% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,026,721 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $233,744,000 after acquiring an additional 181,594 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in LPL Financial during the fourth quarter worth approximately $200,497,000. 95.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

LPL Financial Price Performance

Shares of LPLA opened at $266.32 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $19.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.51, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $263.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $241.92. LPL Financial has a 1-year low of $179.00 and a 1-year high of $274.35.

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

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 12th were given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 11th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. LPL Financial’s payout ratio is 8.79%.

About LPL Financial

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.