LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Sell-Side Analysts

Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $400.60.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America reduced their price objective on LPL Financial from $557.00 to $554.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $454.00 price objective on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. UBS Group lowered their price target on LPL Financial from $390.00 to $369.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $409.00 to $372.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Monday, October 5th.

Insider Transactions at LPL Financial

In other LPL Financial news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $357.36, for a total transaction of $110,066.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,182,397.52. This represents a 4.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Greg Gates sold 4,119 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.38, for a total value of $1,463,810.22. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 23,602 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,387,678.76. This represents a 14.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,867 shares of company stock worth $1,726,944. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On LPL Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of LPL Financial in the second quarter worth about $1,333,189,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in LPL Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,182,595,000. SurgoCap Partners LP bought a new stake in LPL Financial in the second quarter valued at about $299,487,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC bought a new position in shares of LPL Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $290,481,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the second quarter valued at about $229,756,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Key LPL Financial News

Here are the key news stories impacting LPL Financial this week:

• Positive Sentiment: LPL added Anchor Financial Partners to its broker-dealer and RIA platforms. The team reportedly serves approximately $525 million in advisory, brokerage and retirement-plan assets, adding to LPL’s advisor network and asset base. LPL Financial Welcomes Anchor Financial Partners
• Positive Sentiment: A Bell Global Equities Fund investor letter pushed back against concerns that artificial intelligence could disrupt LPL’s advisor-driven business model, supporting the long-term value of its independent wealth-management platform. Bell Global Equities Fund on AI Disruption Concerns
• Neutral Sentiment: UBS lowered its target from $390 to $369 but maintained a Buy rating, implying substantial upside based on the referenced share price. This indicates analysts remain divided rather than uniformly bearish. UBS LPL Financial Ratings
• Negative Sentiment: TD Cowen, Barclays, Wells Fargo, Truist Financial and JPMorgan Chase all issued lower expectations or price targets for LPLA. TD Cowen’s revised target was reported at $356, while the cluster of reductions weakened investor sentiment and contributed to the stock’s decline. TD Cowen Cuts LPL Financial Target
• Negative Sentiment: Recent reported insider activity showed four open-market sales and no purchases over six months, adding a modest additional cautionary signal.

LPL Financial Price Performance

LPLA stock opened at $283.74 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 2.62. LPL Financial has a 1 year low of $260.15 and a 1 year high of $400.16. The business’s 50-day moving average is $330.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $323.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 0.55.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $5.97 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.69 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $5.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.35 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 32.05% and a net margin of 6.83%. LPL Financial’s quarterly revenue was up 17.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.20 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that LPL Financial will post 23.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 12th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 12th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. LPL Financial’s payout ratio is currently 6.88%.

About LPL Financial

LPL Financial Holdings Inc is a financial services company that supports independent financial advisors and institutions across the United States. Through its primary subsidiary, LPL Financial LLC, the company provides brokerage, investment advisory, and custodial services, enabling advisors to serve individual investors, families, retirement plans, and other clients.

LPL’s platform includes access to brokerage and advisory products, securities clearing and custody, trading and operations support, technology, compliance services, investment research, and practice-management resources.