Rhumbline Advisers Lowers Holdings in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Rhumbline Advisers reduced its stake in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 2.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 103,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,301 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in LPL Financial were worth $34,432,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LPLA. Dodge & Cox boosted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the second quarter worth approximately $402,312,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 61.1% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,442,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $915,745,000 after buying an additional 926,122 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 8.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,986,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,994,798,000 after buying an additional 613,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of LPL Financial by 444.8% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 551,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $206,825,000 after acquiring an additional 450,326 shares in the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Richard Steinmeier sold 5,058 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.99, for a total value of $1,876,467.42. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,326 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,459,852.74. This trade represents a 35.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 80 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $352.48, for a total value of $28,198.40. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,939,344.96. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 5,888 shares of company stock valued at $2,182,893 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LPLA has been the topic of several analyst reports. JMP Securities set a $475.00 price objective on LPL Financial in a research report on Friday, October 31st. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on LPL Financial from $399.00 to $378.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. UBS Group set a $500.00 price target on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $462.00 to $447.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $431.80.

LPL Financial Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:LPLA opened at $334.70 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $368.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $357.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.40, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.58. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $262.83 and a 52-week high of $403.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a current ratio of 2.60.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $5.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 net margin of 5.08% and a return on equity of 35.99%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.25 EPS. Analysts expect 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 paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.90%.

LPL Financial 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.