First Trust Advisors LP Sells 4,977 Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

First Trust Advisors LP lessened its stake in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 5.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 93,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,977 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $28,143,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dodge & Cox lifted its position in LPL Financial by 18.6% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 3,948,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,410,454,000 after purchasing an additional 619,715 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,377,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,206,371,000 after buying an additional 280,202 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 36.3% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,636,544 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $793,163,000 after buying an additional 702,061 shares during the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LPLA has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on LPL Financial from $390.00 to $408.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Friday. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $412.00 to $394.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, 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 research report on Friday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at LPL Financial

In related news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.00, for a total transaction of $94,248.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,415 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

LPL Financial Price Performance

Shares of LPL Financial stock opened at $342.40 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $27.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.50. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $298.30 and its 200 day moving average is $316.33. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $260.15 and a one year high of $403.58.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $4.98 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 31.26% and a net margin of 4.93%.LPL Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.15 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 23.38 earnings per share for the current year.

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.