Natixis Advisors LLC Sells 15,108 Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Natixis Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 27.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 40,834 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 15,108 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $14,585,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LPLA. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $1,153,000 after purchasing an additional 1,055 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in LPL Financial by 0.5% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 209,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $68,414,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP bought a new stake in LPL Financial during the first quarter valued at about $1,636,000. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in LPL Financial by 12.2% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 4,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,426,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in LPL Financial during the first quarter valued at about $121,000. Institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other LPL Financial news, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 1,088 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.72, for a total value of $336,975.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,362,768. This trade represents a 19.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was 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 owned 19,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,535,188.03. The trade was a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 4,879 shares of company stock valued at $1,538,826. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LPLA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. 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 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 report on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group raised their price objective on LPL Financial from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on LPL Financial from $447.00 to $374.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Monday, April 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $398.86.

LPL Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LPLA opened at $288.49 on Friday. 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 company has a market cap of $23.07 billion, a PE ratio of 25.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.50. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $302.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $331.95. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $260.15 and a fifty-two week high of $403.58.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.49 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $4.94 billion during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 34.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 22.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st were 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 was Thursday, May 21st. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.