7,190 Shares in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA Bought by WealthPoint Financial LLC

WealthPoint Financial LLC acquired a new position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 7,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,568,000. LPL Financial makes up 2.2% of WealthPoint Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Egerton Capital UK LLP bought a new position in LPL Financial in the 4th quarter worth about $91,012,000. Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich acquired a new stake in shares of LPL Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,975,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 14.7% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 77,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,204,000 after buying an additional 5,179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of LPL Financial during the third quarter worth approximately $4,583,000. 95.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LPLA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Monday, April 27th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on LPL Financial from $447.00 to $374.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on LPL Financial from $396.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on LPL Financial in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $350.00 price target on the stock. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Thursday, June 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, LPL Financial presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $398.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other LPL Financial news, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of the business’s 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 sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ LPLA opened at $293.95 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $260.15 and a 1 year high of $403.58. The company has a market cap of $23.51 billion, a PE ratio of 26.25, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.50. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $302.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $328.09.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.49 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $4.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.98 billion. LPL Financial had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 31.26%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.15 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 22.98 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

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

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.