Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 5,244 Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund trimmed its stake in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 26.9% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 14,272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,244 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $4,293,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Goldstein Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC now owns 634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $226,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in LPL Financial by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $280,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 5,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,956,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Natural Investments LLC grew its stake in LPL Financial by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Natural Investments LLC now owns 727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $259,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Root Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in LPL Financial by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,318 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $828,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.00, for a total transaction of $94,248.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,415 shares in the company, valued at $1,962,990. The trade was a 4.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on LPLA. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on LPL Financial from $464.00 to $383.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $390.00 to $408.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $350.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $374.00 to $387.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Monday, April 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $397.92.

LPL Financial Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ LPLA opened at $324.90 on Friday. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $260.15 and a 1-year high of $403.58. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $293.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $318.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.50. 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, beating the consensus estimate of $5.49 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $4.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.98 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 31.26% and a net margin of 4.93%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 34.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.15 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 23.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

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

LPL Financial Company 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.