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

Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fifteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $401.9286.

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Wolfe Research set a $478.00 price target on LPL Financial in a report on Friday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on LPL Financial in a report on Wednesday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $350.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on LPL Financial from $447.00 to $374.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group upgraded LPL Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the company from $406.00 to $380.00 in a report on Wednesday.

Insider Transactions at LPL Financial

In other news, Director Matthew Enyedi sold 2,109 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.15, for a total transaction of $675,196.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 14,121 shares in the company, valued at $4,520,838.15. This represents a 12.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,581 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.50, for a total value of $506,710.50. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 21,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,852,931. The trade was a 6.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 6,990 shares of company stock worth $2,201,837 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of LPL Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 4.0% during 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 buying an additional 317,002 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox increased its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 18.6% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 3,948,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,410,454,000 after buying an additional 619,715 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 14.7% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 37.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,625,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,294,869,000 after buying an additional 996,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,377,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,206,371,000 after buying an additional 280,202 shares during the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

LPL Financial Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of LPL Financial stock opened at $312.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 2.45. LPL Financial has a 1 year low of $281.51 and a 1 year high of $403.58. The company has a market capitalization of $25.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $317.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $342.58.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $4.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.90 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 34.19% and a net margin of 5.08%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.25 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that LPL Financial will post 19.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued 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 was Tuesday, March 10th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.90%.

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.