Insider Selling: LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) CFO Sells $506,710.50 in Stock

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) CFO Matthew Audette sold 1,581 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.50, for a total value of $506,710.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 21,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,852,931. The trade was a 6.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

LPL Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ LPLA opened at $300.38 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.45, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The company has a market cap of $24.05 billion, a PE ratio of 27.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.59. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $262.83 and a 52 week high of $403.58. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $357.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $353.20.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $5.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $4.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.90 billion. LPL Financial had a net margin of 5.08% and a return on equity of 34.19%. The company’s revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.25 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 earnings per share for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. LPL Financial’s payout ratio is presently 10.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LPLA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on LPL Financial from $426.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on LPL Financial from $433.00 to $439.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. UBS Group set a $500.00 price target on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $478.00 target price on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Friday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $428.71.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LPLA. Camden National Bank grew its stake in LPL Financial by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Camden National Bank now owns 967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $363,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC now owns 715 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $238,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC now owns 634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $226,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in LPL Financial by 4.0% in the second quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 804 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $302,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC increased its stake in LPL Financial by 4.1% in the fourth 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 last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.