Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Buys Shares of 7,604 LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 7,604 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,142,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LPLA. Evolve Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of LPL Financial during the second quarter valued at approximately $510,000. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. acquired a new stake in LPL Financial in the second quarter worth approximately $336,000. Korea Investment CORP acquired a new stake in LPL Financial in the second quarter worth approximately $10,369,000. Heron Bay Capital Management bought a new position in LPL Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $66,268,000. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC bought a new position in LPL Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,097,000. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

Shares of LPLA opened at $364.18 on Tuesday. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $260.15 and a one year high of $400.16. The company has a 50-day moving average of $327.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $315.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 2.39. The stock has a market cap of $28.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.04, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.48.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.39 by $0.45. LPL Financial had a net margin of 5.13% and a return on equity of 32.20%. The business had revenue of $5.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $4.51 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 35.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 24.09 earnings per share for the current year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on LPLA shares. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $454.00 price objective on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $408.00 to $428.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $395.00 to $391.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Friday, July 24th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $406.69.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Matthew Enyedi sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.72, for a total value of $352,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 13,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,628,039.12. This represents a 7.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Greg Gates sold 4,119 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.38, for a total value of $1,463,810.22. Following the sale, the director owned 23,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,387,678.76. The trade was a 14.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 5,427 shares of company stock worth $1,910,778. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

LPL Financial 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.