LPL Financial’s (LPLA) “Market Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at Citizens Jmp

Citizens Jmp reissued their market outperform rating on shares of LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $500.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

LPLA has been the subject of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $433.00 to $439.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. UBS Group set a $500.00 price target on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $462.00 to $447.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $399.00 to $378.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $426.43.

LPL Financial Price Performance

LPL Financial stock opened at $294.46 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $23.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.56. 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 $262.83 and a 1 year high of $403.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $321.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $343.44.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last released 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 company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.25 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that LPL Financial will post 19.35 earnings per share for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. LPL Financial’s payout ratio is 10.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Matthew Enyedi sold 2,109 shares of the business’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 transaction of $675,196.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 14,121 shares in the company, valued at $4,520,838.15. The trade was a 12.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,581 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.50, for a total transaction of $506,710.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 21,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,852,931. This trade represents a 6.88% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 6,990 shares of company stock worth $2,201,837 in the last 90 days. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 valued at $2,762,581,000 after purchasing an additional 317,002 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox increased its stake in LPL Financial by 18.6% during the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 3,948,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,410,454,000 after purchasing an additional 619,715 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in 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 valued at $1,328,475,000 after purchasing an additional 477,094 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in 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 valued at $1,294,869,000 after purchasing an additional 996,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in 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 valued at $1,206,371,000 after purchasing an additional 280,202 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

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.