Katharine Reeping Sells 440 Shares of LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) Stock

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) insider Katharine Reeping sold 440 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $347.88, for a total value of $153,067.20. Following the transaction, the insider owned 1,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $617,139.12. This trade represents a 19.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LPLA traded down $8.12 on Monday, hitting $345.66. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 561,894 shares, compared to its average volume of 901,201. The company has a market capitalization of $27.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 2.39 and a current ratio of 2.39. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $260.15 and a 12 month high of $400.16. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $347.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $316.50.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.39 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $5.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.04 billion. LPL Financial had a net margin of 5.13% and a return on equity of 32.20%. The company’s revenue was up 35.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $4.51 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 24.06 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on LPLA. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $374.00 to $387.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on LPL Financial from $408.00 to $428.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on LPL Financial from $300.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $454.00 price objective on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on LPL Financial from $395.00 to $391.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $405.79.

Institutional Trading of LPL Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LPLA. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in LPL Financial by 29,129.4% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 34,308,342 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,663,974,000 after buying an additional 34,190,966 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of LPL Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,333,189,000. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in shares of LPL Financial during the 2nd quarter worth $1,182,595,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,666,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,103,079,000 after acquiring an additional 289,227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 37.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,625,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,294,869,000 after acquiring an additional 996,806 shares during the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

LPL Financial Company Profile

LPL Financial Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LPLA) is the parent company of LPL Financial LLC, an independent broker-dealer and registered investment adviser that provides services and support to financial advisors. Rather than operating primarily through a proprietary branch network, LPL enables independent financial professionals, registered investment advisers, and advisors affiliated with banks and credit unions to operate their own practices while accessing investment products, technology, and business resources.

The company’s platform supports brokerage and fee-based advisory services, retirement plan services, insurance and annuity products, alternative investments, cash management, research, compliance, and practice management.