Korea Investment CORP Makes New Investment in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Korea Investment CORP bought a new position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 36,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,369,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of LPL Financial in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 3,650.0% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 75 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Core Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in LPL Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in LPL Financial by 580.0% in the first quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinpoint Asset Management Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in LPL Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,000. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on LPLA shares. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $394.00 to $401.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $454.00 target price on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $300.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, LPL Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $406.69.

Insider Activity

In other LPL Financial news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director owned 6,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,962,990. The trade was a 4.58% decrease in their position. The sale 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. Also, Director Greg Gates sold 4,119 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.38, for a total value of $1,463,810.22. Following the sale, the director directly owned 23,602 shares in the company, valued at $8,387,678.76. This trade represents a 14.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 5,427 shares of company stock valued at $1,910,778 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:LPLA opened at $364.18 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $327.96 and its 200 day moving average is $315.28. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $260.15 and a 12-month high of $400.16. The stock has a market cap of $28.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.04, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 2.39, a current ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.39 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $5.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.04 billion. LPL Financial had a net margin of 5.13% and a return on equity of 32.20%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.51 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 24.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

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

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.