Norges Bank Purchases New Shares in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 1,040,445 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $371,616,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in LPL Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 3,650.0% in the 4th quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 75 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. increased its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 550.0% in the 4th quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 78 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of LPL Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Graney & King LLC increased its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 49.5% in the 2nd quarter. Graney & King LLC now owns 139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. 95.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on LPLA shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on LPL Financial from $447.00 to $374.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on LPL Financial from $396.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on LPL Financial in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $350.00 target price for the company. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, LPL Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $398.86.

Insider Activity at LPL Financial

In other news, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 2,212 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.75, for a total value of $682,955.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,694,420. This represents a 28.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.01, for a total value of $366,311.10. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 4,879 shares of company stock worth $1,538,826 in the last ninety days. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

LPLA opened at $275.04 on Tuesday. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $260.15 and a 52-week high of $403.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.00 billion, a PE ratio of 24.56, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a current ratio of 2.56. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $303.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $334.18.

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

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

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

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.