Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Purchases New Shares in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 23,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,695,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LPLA. Egerton Capital UK LLP purchased a new position in shares of LPL Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $91,012,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in LPL Financial by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 77,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,204,000 after buying an additional 5,179 shares during the period. Markel Group Inc. boosted its position in LPL Financial by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 559,951 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $199,998,000 after acquiring an additional 6,630 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in LPL Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $371,616,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 56.6% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 158,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,713,000 after acquiring an additional 57,362 shares during the period. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other LPL Financial news, Director Greg Gates sold 4,119 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.38, for a total transaction of $1,463,810.22. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 23,602 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,387,678.76. This trade represents a 14.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $357.36, for a total transaction of $110,066.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,107 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,182,397.52. This trade represents a 4.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 5,735 shares of company stock worth $2,020,845 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LPLA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial initiated coverage on LPL Financial in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating and a $389.00 target price for the company. Barclays increased their price objective on LPL Financial from $394.00 to $401.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Friday, July 24th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $395.00 to $391.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target 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. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, LPL Financial presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $405.79.

LPL Financial Stock Down 3.4%

LPLA stock opened at $357.63 on Wednesday. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $260.15 and a twelve month high of $400.16. The company has a quick ratio of 2.39, a current ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market cap of $28.16 billion, a PE ratio of 28.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a 50 day moving average of $335.83 and a 200 day moving average of $314.87.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.84 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $5.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.51 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 24.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th were 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 was Friday, August 14th. LPL Financial’s payout ratio is currently 9.57%.

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.