13,775 Shares in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA Bought by Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 13,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,583,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in LPL Financial by 116.2% during the second quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 80 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. lifted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 912.5% in the third quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 81 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank boosted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 72.0% during the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 86 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Stock Down 2.7%

LPLA stock opened at $319.22 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $362.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $355.39. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The company has a market cap of $25.55 billion, a PE ratio of 28.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.58. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $262.83 and a twelve month high of $403.58.

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

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on LPLA. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $462.00 to $447.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Wolfe Research set a $478.00 price objective on LPL Financial in a research note on Friday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on LPL Financial from $433.00 to $439.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, UBS Group set a $500.00 price target on LPL Financial in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $428.71.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Greg Gates sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.97, for a total value of $278,227.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 14,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,423,581.40. This represents a 4.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $1,876,467.42. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,326 shares in the company, valued at $3,459,852.74. The trade was a 35.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,888 shares of company stock worth $2,182,893. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.