Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC Cuts Stake in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC reduced its stake in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 49.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 99,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 99,170 shares during the quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $35,649,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in LPL Financial by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,303,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,762,581,000 after buying an additional 317,002 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in LPL Financial by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,719,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,328,475,000 after buying an additional 477,094 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings 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 valued at $1,294,869,000 after buying an additional 996,806 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox grew its holdings in LPL Financial by 23.2% during the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 3,329,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,107,610,000 after buying an additional 627,546 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC grew its holdings in LPL Financial by 20.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,255,714 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $750,453,000 after buying an additional 383,466 shares in the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

LPL Financial Trading Down 1.6%

LPLA stock opened at $283.75 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $302.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $331.24. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $260.15 and a fifty-two week high of $403.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a current ratio of 2.56. The firm has a market cap of $22.70 billion, a PE ratio of 25.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.50.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.49 by $0.11. LPL Financial had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 31.26%. The firm had revenue of $4.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.98 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $5.15 earnings per share. LPL Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 22.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $396.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Barclays raised their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $369.00 to $412.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $330.00 to $326.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $464.00 to $383.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $398.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other LPL Financial news, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.01, for a total transaction of $366,311.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 19,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,535,188.03. The trade was a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.60% of the stock is owned by 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.