LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA is Azora Capital LP’s Largest Position

Azora Capital LP boosted its holdings in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 26.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 448,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 94,833 shares during the period. LPL Financial makes up 10.1% of Azora Capital LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Azora Capital LP owned approximately 0.56% of LPL Financial worth $160,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in LPL Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC grew its stake in LPL Financial by 3,650.0% in the 4th quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 75 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. grew its stake in LPL Financial by 550.0% in the 4th quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 78 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Core Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in LPL Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Pinpoint Asset Management Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of LPL Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ LPLA opened at $304.50 on Thursday. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $260.15 and a 52-week high of $403.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a current ratio of 2.56. The company has a market capitalization of $24.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a fifty day moving average of $302.25 and a 200-day moving average of $328.52.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.49 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $4.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.98 billion. LPL Financial had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 31.26%. The firm’s revenue was up 34.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.15 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 22.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. LPL Financial’s payout ratio is currently 10.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LPLA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Monday, April 27th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $330.00 to $326.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $398.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other LPL Financial news, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.01, for a total value of $366,311.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 19,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,535,188.03. The trade was a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.