LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $398.8571.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Monday, April 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Monday, April 27th. UBS Group upped their price target on LPL Financial from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on LPL Financial from $396.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on LPL Financial from $464.00 to $383.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 6th.

Insider Buying and Selling at LPL Financial

In other LPL Financial news, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,581 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.50, for a total transaction of $506,710.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 21,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,852,931. This represents a 6.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 2,212 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.75, for a total value 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 position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 8,569 shares of company stock valued at $2,720,733 over the last quarter. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On LPL Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Stratos Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 4.2% in the third quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC now owns 715 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Goldstein Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC now owns 634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 5,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,956,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Natural Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Natural Investments LLC now owns 727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

Shares of LPLA stock opened at $294.48 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $23.55 billion, a PE ratio of 26.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $308.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $341.63. The company has a quick ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. LPL Financial has a 52-week low of $281.51 and a 52-week high of $403.58.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.49 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $4.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.98 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 31.26% and a net margin of 4.93%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.15 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that LPL Financial will post 22.9 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.71%.

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.