Insider Selling: LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) Director Sells $352,720.00 in Stock

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Director Matthew Enyedi sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.72, for a total value of $352,720.00. Following the sale, the director owned 13,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,628,039.12. This represents a 7.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

LPL Financial Stock Down 0.2%

NASDAQ:LPLA opened at $359.05 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $308.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $315.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a current ratio of 2.39. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $260.15 and a fifty-two week high of $400.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.48.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.39 by $0.45. LPL Financial had a net margin of 5.13% and a return on equity of 32.20%. The firm had revenue of $5.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.51 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 24.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on LPLA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $408.00 to $428.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $330.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Friday, July 24th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on LPL Financial from $365.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, LPL Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $408.54.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LPLA. Dodge & Cox lifted its position in shares of LPL Financial by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 3,948,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,410,454,000 after acquiring an additional 619,715 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 477,094 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in LPL Financial by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,666,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,103,079,000 after purchasing an additional 289,227 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in LPL Financial by 37.9% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in LPL Financial by 36.3% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,636,544 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $793,163,000 after purchasing an additional 702,061 shares in the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.