LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA Shares Sold by Atria Investments Inc

Atria Investments Inc lowered its stake in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 13.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,748 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $5,776,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dodge & Cox increased its stake in LPL Financial by 77.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 2,701,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,013,060,000 after purchasing an additional 1,178,249 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in LPL Financial in the second quarter valued at about $402,312,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 61.1% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,442,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $915,745,000 after purchasing an additional 926,122 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of LPL Financial by 8.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,986,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,994,798,000 after purchasing an additional 613,909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of LPL Financial by 444.8% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 551,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $206,825,000 after acquiring an additional 450,326 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of LPL Financial stock opened at $334.70 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $368.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $357.56. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $262.83 and a fifty-two week high of $403.58. The firm has a market cap of $26.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $5.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.41. LPL Financial had a net margin of 5.08% and a return on equity of 35.99%. The firm had revenue of $4.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.25 earnings per share. LPL Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. LPL Financial’s payout ratio is presently 10.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on LPLA shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on LPL Financial from $426.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on LPL Financial from $399.00 to $378.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp upped their price target on LPL Financial from $455.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $421.00 price objective on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, LPL Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $431.80.

Insider Transactions at LPL Financial

In other LPL Financial news, Director Greg Gates sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.97, for a total transaction of $278,227.50. Following the sale, the director owned 14,620 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,423,581.40. The trade was a 4.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 80 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $352.48, for a total transaction of $28,198.40. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,939,344.96. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 5,888 shares of company stock valued at $2,182,893 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

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.