Citigroup Inc. Purchases 91,301 Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Citigroup Inc. grew its position in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 177.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 142,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 91,301 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. owned approximately 0.18% of LPL Financial worth $47,503,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group set a $500.00 target price on LPL Financial in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $421.00 price objective on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Friday, October 31st. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $399.00 to $378.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp set a $475.00 price target on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $444.00 to $434.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, LPL Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $428.71.

LPL Financial Price Performance

Shares of LPL Financial stock opened at $308.70 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $360.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $354.33. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $262.83 and a 12-month high of $403.58. The firm has a market cap of $24.71 billion, a PE ratio of 28.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted 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 company had revenue of $4.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.90 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 35.99% and a net margin of 5.08%.LPL Financial’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at LPL Financial

In related news, CEO Richard Steinmeier sold 5,058 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.99, for a total transaction of $1,876,467.42. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 80 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.48, for a total transaction of $28,198.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,939,344.96. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 5,888 shares of company stock worth $2,182,893 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.70% 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.