Danske Bank A S Acquires New Position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Danske Bank A S acquired a new stake in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 131,432 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $43,726,000. Danske Bank A S owned approximately 0.16% of LPL Financial at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LPLA. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 42.7% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,153,000 after purchasing an additional 1,055 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 209,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $68,414,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new position in LPL Financial during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,636,000. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its stake in LPL Financial by 12.2% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 4,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,426,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in LPL Financial in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $121,000. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at LPL Financial

In related news, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 2,212 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.75, for a total value of $682,955.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,694,420. The trade was a 28.73% 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 Matthew Enyedi sold 2,109 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $320.15, for a total value of $675,196.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 14,121 shares in the company, valued at $4,520,838.15. The trade was a 12.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 6,990 shares of company stock worth $2,201,837 over the last ninety days. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

Shares of LPL Financial stock opened at $288.16 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $23.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.59. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $262.83 and a twelve month high of $403.58. The company’s fifty day moving average is $340.63 and its 200 day moving average is $347.99. The company has a quick ratio of 2.45, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $5.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $4.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.90 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 34.19% 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 period last year, the company earned $4.25 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LPLA. Barclays cut their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $444.00 to $434.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Wolfe Research set a $478.00 price target on LPL Financial in a research note on Friday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on LPL Financial from $433.00 to $439.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on LPL Financial from $462.00 to $447.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, UBS Group set a $500.00 price objective on LPL Financial in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, LPL Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $428.71.

LPL Financial 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.