Wealthfront Advisers LLC Purchases New Position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 2,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $622,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of LPL Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,333,189,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC purchased a new position in LPL Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $450,493,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in LPL Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $371,616,000. Capital World Investors grew its stake in LPL Financial by 37.9% during 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 buying an additional 996,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in LPL Financial by 4,435.2% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 747,086 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $210,439,000 after buying an additional 730,613 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Stock Up 2.1%

LPLA opened at $361.35 on Friday. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $260.15 and a 52 week high of $400.16. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $326.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $315.86. The company has a quick ratio of 2.39, a current ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The company has a market cap of $28.45 billion, a PE ratio of 28.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.48.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.39 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $5.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.04 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 32.20% and a net margin of 5.13%.The company’s revenue was up 35.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.51 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 24.09 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LPLA has been the subject of a number of research reports. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $330.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Friday, July 24th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $454.00 price target on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $374.00 to $387.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $406.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at LPL Financial

In other LPL Financial news, Director Matthew Enyedi sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $352.72, for a total value of $352,720.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 13,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,628,039.12. The trade was a 7.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing 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 Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.00, for a total transaction of $94,248.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,962,990. The trade was a 4.58% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 5,427 shares of company stock valued at $1,910,778. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.