Fifth Third Bancorp Cuts Holdings in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Fifth Third Bancorp trimmed its holdings in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 35.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 428 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 230 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $160,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 1,918 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $627,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 195.1% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 3,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,093,000 after buying an additional 2,209 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,304,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $426,846,000 after buying an additional 105,665 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank boosted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 5,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,922,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 2,319.1% in the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $372,000 after buying an additional 1,090 shares during the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LPLA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on LPL Financial from $490.00 to $462.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Rothschild & Co Redburn downgraded LPL Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $390.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Citigroup cut LPL Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Barclays decreased their target price on LPL Financial from $463.00 to $460.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on LPL Financial from $425.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $389.38.

LPL Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ:LPLA opened at $317.00 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.22, a current ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $356.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $353.91. The stock has a market cap of $25.36 billion, a PE ratio of 21.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.61. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $222.74 and a 52 week high of $403.58.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.21 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $3.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.77 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 39.80% and a net margin of 7.91%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 30.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.88 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.21%.

Insider Transactions at LPL Financial

In other LPL Financial news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 80 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $361.25, for a total transaction of $28,900.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,016,497.50. This trade represents a 1.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Greg Gates sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $338.21, for a total value of $507,315.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 17,620 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,959,260.20. This represents a 7.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 3,080 shares of company stock worth $1,097,290. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial 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.