Schechter Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 1,655 Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA)

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 149.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,761 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,655 shares during the quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $901,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LPLA. New York State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 96.8% during the third quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,371 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $784,000 after purchasing an additional 1,658 shares during the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management acquired a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the third quarter worth approximately $205,000. Stephens Inc. AR lifted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 5.2% in the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 1,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $245,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 106.4% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 8,020 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,866,000 after acquiring an additional 4,134 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 61.2% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 36,380 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,386,000 after acquiring an additional 13,814 shares during the period. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

LPL Financial Trading Down 3.5 %

Shares of LPL Financial stock opened at $358.86 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $352.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $296.76. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $187.19 and a 12-month high of $384.04. The company has a market capitalization of $26.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 2.16, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.01 by $0.24. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 49.41% and a net margin of 8.55%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.33%. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised LPL Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 9th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $435.00 price objective on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen raised LPL Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $277.00 to $413.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. UBS Group boosted their price target on LPL Financial from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on LPL Financial from $389.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $379.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at LPL Financial

In other news, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.85, for a total transaction of $402,435.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,490,838.75. This represents a 21.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 28,777 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.14, for a total value of $10,507,633.78. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 13,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,988,907.82. The trade was a 67.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 34,770 shares of company stock worth $12,663,312 in the last quarter. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.