LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) Director Sells $682,955.00 in Stock

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 2,212 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.75, for a total transaction of $682,955.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,694,420. This trade represents a 28.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Marc Eliot Cohen also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, March 10th, Marc Eliot Cohen sold 1,088 shares of LPL Financial stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.72, for a total transaction of $336,975.36.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

LPL Financial stock opened at $289.03 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $345.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $349.71. The company has a quick ratio of 2.45, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The company has a market cap of $23.15 billion, a PE ratio of 26.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.59. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $262.83 and a twelve month high of $403.58.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $4.93 billion during 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 34.19%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.25 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 is 10.90%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On LPL Financial

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in LPL Financial by 4.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,303,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,762,581,000 after buying an additional 317,002 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox raised its stake in LPL Financial by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 3,948,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,410,454,000 after buying an additional 619,715 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in LPL Financial by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,719,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,328,475,000 after buying an additional 477,094 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its position in LPL Financial by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,679,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,379,598,000 after acquiring an additional 165,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 996,806 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 have recently weighed in on LPLA. Wolfe Research set a $478.00 target price on LPL Financial in a research report on Friday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on LPL Financial from $433.00 to $439.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $399.00 to $378.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $444.00 to $434.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group set a $500.00 target price on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. One investment 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $428.71.

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.