LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA Position Raised by United Asset Strategies Inc.

United Asset Strategies Inc. raised its stake in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 23.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,482 shares during the quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $4,716,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in LPL Financial by 0.7% in the third quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 1,742,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $593,663,000 after buying an additional 12,214 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its stake in LPL Financial by 41.5% in the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 5,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,777,000 after buying an additional 1,566 shares during the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in LPL Financial by 116.6% in the third quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 5,568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,852,000 after buying an additional 2,997 shares during the last quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. lifted its stake in LPL Financial by 24.5% in the third quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 187,973 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,537,000 after buying an additional 36,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich bought a new stake in LPL Financial in the third quarter valued at $1,975,000. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LPLA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on LPL Financial from $433.00 to $439.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Barclays cut their target price on LPL Financial from $435.00 to $369.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on LPL Financial from $464.00 to $383.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised LPL Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $406.00 to $380.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $401.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 2,212 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.75, for a total transaction of $682,955.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,694,420. The trade was a 28.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,581 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 21,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,852,931. The trade was a 6.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 8,569 shares of company stock valued at $2,720,733 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Price Performance

Shares of LPLA opened at $327.78 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 2.45 and a current ratio of 2.45. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $281.51 and a one year high of $403.58. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $308.92 and its 200-day moving average is $342.28.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $5.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $4.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.90 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 34.19% and a net margin of 5.08%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.25 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 23 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 10th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.90%.

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.