Morgan Stanley Lowers LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) Price Target to $374.00

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) had its price objective decreased by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $447.00 to $374.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 19.67% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on LPLA. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. UBS Group upgraded shares of LPL Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $406.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Wednesday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $350.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $478.00 price target on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $401.93.

LPL Financial Stock Down 0.6%

NASDAQ LPLA opened at $312.53 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $25.06 billion, a PE ratio of 28.39, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 2.45 and a current ratio of 2.45. LPL Financial has a twelve month low of $281.51 and a twelve month high of $403.58. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $317.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $342.59.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $5.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $4.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.90 billion. LPL Financial had a net margin of 5.08% and a return on equity of 34.19%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.25 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that LPL Financial will post 19.35 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 2,212 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.75, for a total value of $682,955.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,581 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $320.50, for a total transaction of $506,710.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 21,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,852,931. This trade represents a 6.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 6,990 shares of company stock worth $2,201,837. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LPLA. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised 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 valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 73 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. Clearstead Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 3,650.0% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 75 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. increased its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 550.0% in the fourth quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 78 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.66% 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.