LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA Shares Sold by Ceredex Value Advisors LLC

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC cut its stake in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 3.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 69,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,450 shares during the quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned about 0.09% of LPL Financial worth $22,989,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LPLA. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in LPL Financial by 42.7% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,153,000 after purchasing an additional 1,055 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 209,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $68,414,000 after buying an additional 1,089 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of LPL Financial during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,636,000. Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in shares of LPL Financial by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 4,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,426,000 after buying an additional 473 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in LPL Financial in the first quarter valued at approximately $121,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LPLA opened at $312.80 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 2.45. The company has a market cap of $25.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.59. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $350.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $351.35. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $262.83 and a 1-year high of $403.58.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $5.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.41. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 34.19% and a net margin of 5.08%.The business had revenue of $4.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.25 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 10.90%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other LPL Financial news, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,581 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.50, for a total transaction of $506,710.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 21,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,852,931. The trade was a 6.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Matthew Enyedi sold 2,109 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.15, for a total value of $675,196.35. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 14,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,520,838.15. This represents a 12.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on LPLA. Barclays reduced their target price on LPL Financial from $444.00 to $434.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $433.00 to $439.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price 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 target on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $426.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $428.71.

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.