Anchor Investment Management LLC Boosts Holdings in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Anchor Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 0.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 74 shares during the quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $3,196,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 8.9% in the first quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 1,918 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $627,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 195.1% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 3,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,093,000 after buying an additional 2,209 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 8.8% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,304,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $426,846,000 after buying an additional 105,665 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank grew its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 5,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,922,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in LPL Financial by 2,319.1% in the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $372,000 after acquiring an additional 1,090 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on LPLA. TD Cowen lowered shares of LPL Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $406.00 to $403.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup lowered shares of LPL Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $425.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $490.00 target price (up from $450.00) on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of LPL Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 14th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $383.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 80 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $361.25, for a total transaction of $28,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,582 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,016,497.50. This represents a 1.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Greg Gates sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $374.05, for a total value of $561,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 19,120 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,151,836. This represents a 7.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,580 shares of company stock valued at $1,671,235 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Trading Down 0.2%

LPLA stock opened at $339.97 on Wednesday. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $204.41 and a 1-year high of $403.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 3.22 and a quick ratio of 3.22. The company has a market capitalization of $27.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.25, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.66. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $369.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $354.36.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.21 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $3.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.77 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 39.80% and a net margin of 7.91%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 30.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.88 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given 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 Friday, August 15th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.21%.

LPL Financial Profile

LPL Financial Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides an integrated platform of brokerage and investment advisory services to independent financial advisors and financial advisors at enterprises in the United States. Its brokerage offerings include variable and fixed annuities, mutual funds, equities, fixed income, alternative investments, retirement and 529 education savings plans, and insurance.