Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Sells 3,084 Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. cut its holdings in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 5.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,084 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. owned about 0.06% of LPL Financial worth $17,718,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Cercano Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of LPL Financial during the 4th quarter worth $204,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in LPL Financial by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 25,577 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,135,000 after buying an additional 1,314 shares during the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd increased its holdings in LPL Financial by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 445,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $159,041,000 after buying an additional 81,880 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in LPL Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in LPL Financial by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 35,304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,610,000 after buying an additional 2,884 shares during the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LPLA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $369.00 to $412.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on LPL Financial from $396.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on LPL Financial from $330.00 to $326.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, 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 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $398.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at LPL Financial

In other news, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 19,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,535,188.03. This represents a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 1,088 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.72, for a total transaction of $336,975.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,362,768. The trade was a 19.83% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,879 shares of company stock worth $1,538,826. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ:LPLA opened at $275.04 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $22.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $303.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $334.18. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $260.15 and a 1 year high of $403.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.56 and a quick ratio of 2.56.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $4.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.98 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 31.26% and a net margin of 4.93%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 34.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.15 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 22.98 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 currently 10.71%.

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.