Analysts Set LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Target Price at $428.71

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $428.7143.

LPLA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. UBS Group set a $500.00 price objective on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. TD Cowen cut their target price on LPL Financial from $399.00 to $378.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Wolfe Research set a $478.00 target price on LPL Financial in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on LPL Financial from $426.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th.

Insider Activity at LPL Financial

In related news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 80 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $352.48, for a total value of $28,198.40. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,939,344.96. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Richard Steinmeier sold 5,058 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.99, for a total transaction of $1,876,467.42. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,459,852.74. This represents a 35.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 5,888 shares of company stock worth $2,182,893 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of LPL Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LPLA. WealthPoint Financial LLC acquired a new position in LPL Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,568,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 4,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,617,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 3,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,095,000 after purchasing an additional 560 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 2,603 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $930,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $290,000. 95.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

LPL Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LPLA opened at $319.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60. The company has a market cap of $25.55 billion, a PE ratio of 28.99, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $362.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $355.22. LPL Financial has a fifty-two week low of $262.83 and a fifty-two week high of $403.58.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $5.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $4.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.90 billion. LPL Financial had a net margin of 5.08% and a return on equity of 35.99%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that LPL Financial will post 19.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. LPL Financial’s payout ratio is 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.