Man Group plc Purchases Shares of 35,153 LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Man Group plc acquired a new stake in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 35,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,902,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Goldstein Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC now owns 634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in LPL Financial by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 5,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,956,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in LPL Financial by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,318 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $828,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the period. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. raised its position in LPL Financial by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,191 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $425,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in LPL Financial by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 5,705 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,716,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

LPL Financial Stock Up 2.6%

Shares of LPLA stock opened at $370.69 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $333.13 and a 200 day moving average of $315.22. The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market cap of $29.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.48. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $260.15 and a twelve month high of $400.16.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.39 by $0.45. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 32.20% and a net margin of 5.13%.The company had revenue of $5.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.51 earnings per share. LPL Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 24.09 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other LPL Financial news, Director Greg Gates sold 4,119 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.38, for a total transaction of $1,463,810.22. Following the transaction, the director owned 23,602 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,387,678.76. This represents a 14.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.00, for a total transaction of $94,248.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,962,990. This represents a 4.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 5,427 shares of company stock worth $1,910,778. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LPLA has been the subject of several research reports. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. TD Cowen increased their price objective 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. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $454.00 target price on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $365.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $406.69.

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.