Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. Invests $449,000 in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Daiichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $449,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in LPL Financial during the second quarter worth approximately $1,333,189,000. Dodge & Cox raised its holdings in LPL Financial by 18.6% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 3,948,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,410,454,000 after acquiring an additional 619,715 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in LPL Financial by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,666,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,103,079,000 after acquiring an additional 289,227 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 996,806 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of LPL Financial by 36.3% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,636,544 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $793,163,000 after acquiring an additional 702,061 shares during the period. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LPLA has been the topic of several analyst reports. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Thursday, June 4th. UBS Group dropped their price target on LPL Financial from $395.00 to $391.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $394.00 to $401.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $374.00 to $387.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Friday, July 24th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, LPL Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $406.69.

Insider Activity at LPL Financial

In other LPL Financial news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.00, for a total value of $94,248.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,415 shares in the company, valued at $1,962,990. The trade was a 4.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Matthew Enyedi sold 1,000 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the director directly owned 13,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,628,039.12. The trade was a 7.08% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 5,427 shares of company stock valued at $1,910,778 over the last ninety days. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

LPL Financial Stock Up 0.8%

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

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.39 by $0.45. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 32.20% and a net margin of 5.13%.The company had revenue of $5.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.51 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 24.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

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

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.