LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the seventeen research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $429.0667.

Several brokerages have commented on LPLA. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Friday, October 31st. Wolfe Research set a $486.00 price objective on LPL Financial in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on LPL Financial in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $365.00 price objective for the company. JMP Securities set a $475.00 target price on LPL Financial in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on LPL Financial from $440.00 to $433.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th.

Insider Activity at LPL Financial

In other LPL Financial news, CEO Richard Steinmeier sold 5,058 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.99, for a total transaction of $1,876,467.42. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,459,852.74. This trade represents a 35.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Greg Gates sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $376.43, for a total transaction of $564,645.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 15,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,785,729.10. This trade represents a 8.89% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 7,388 shares of company stock valued at $2,747,538 over the last 90 days. 0.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of LPL Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of LPL Financial by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,303,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,762,581,000 after purchasing an additional 317,002 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in LPL Financial by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,719,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,328,475,000 after buying an additional 477,094 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in LPL Financial by 4.7% in the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,679,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,379,598,000 after buying an additional 165,201 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox boosted its position in LPL Financial by 23.2% during the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 3,329,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,107,610,000 after acquiring an additional 627,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its position in LPL Financial by 15,960.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,628,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $874,493,000 after acquiring an additional 2,612,184 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

Shares of LPL Financial stock opened at $361.93 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $365.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $358.51. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. LPL Financial has a 12 month low of $262.83 and a 12 month high of $403.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.57.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.49 by $0.71. LPL Financial had a net margin of 5.35% and a return on equity of 36.80%. The business had revenue of $4.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.08 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.16 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 46.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that LPL Financial will post 19.35 EPS for the current year.

About LPL Financial

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.