Insider Selling: LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) Director Sells $336,975.36 in Stock

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 1,088 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.72, for a total transaction of $336,975.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,362,768. The trade was a 19.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

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

• On Monday, March 9th, Marc Eliot Cohen sold 2,212 shares of LPL Financial stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.75, for a total value of $682,955.00.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LPLA opened at $289.03 on Friday. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $262.83 and a 12-month high of $403.58. The company has a market cap of $23.15 billion, a PE ratio of 26.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $345.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $349.71. The company has a current ratio of 2.45, a quick ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $5.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $4.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.90 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 34.19% and a net margin of 5.08%.The firm’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period 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 year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.90%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LPLA. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in LPL Financial by 15,960.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,628,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $874,493,000 after acquiring an additional 2,612,184 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC bought a new position in shares of LPL Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $450,493,000. Dodge & Cox grew its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 77.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 2,701,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,013,060,000 after purchasing an additional 1,178,249 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 27,955.5% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,141,019 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $407,538,000 after purchasing an additional 1,136,952 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of LPL Financial in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $402,312,000. 95.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LPLA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $462.00 to $447.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Wolfe Research set a $478.00 price objective on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays lowered 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 note on Friday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, LPL Financial 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.