Legato Capital Management LLC Acquires Shares of 1,944 LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Legato Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,944 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $694,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of LPL Financial by 4.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 317,002 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of LPL Financial by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,719,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,328,475,000 after acquiring an additional 477,094 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox increased its position in shares of LPL Financial by 23.2% in the third quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 3,329,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,107,610,000 after acquiring an additional 627,546 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of LPL Financial by 15,960.1% in the third 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 period. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC increased its position in shares of LPL Financial by 20.5% in the third quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,255,714 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $750,453,000 after acquiring an additional 383,466 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 1,088 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.72, for a total transaction of $336,975.36. Following the sale, the director owned 4,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,362,768. The trade was a 19.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.01, for a total transaction of $366,311.10. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 19,803 shares in the company, valued at $6,535,188.03. The trade was a 5.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 8,569 shares of company stock valued at $2,720,733 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of LPLA opened at $282.42 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $305.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $337.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.22, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $274.93 and a 1-year high of $403.58.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.49 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $4.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.98 billion. LPL Financial had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 31.26%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.15 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 22.98 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. LPL Financial’s payout ratio is presently 10.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on LPLA shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $464.00 to $383.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 6th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $330.00 to $326.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $398.86.

About LPL Financial

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.