Van ECK Associates Corp Boosts Stock Holdings in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,048,344 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 45,367 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned approximately 1.33% of LPL Financial worth $295,298,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of LPL Financial during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC raised its holdings in LPL Financial by 3,650.0% during the 4th quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 75 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in LPL Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in LPL Financial by 580.0% in the 1st quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinpoint Asset Management Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $50,000. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were 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. This represents a 4.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director directly owned 13,121 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,628,039.12. This represents a 7.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 in the last ninety days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $394.00 to $401.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Friday, July 24th. UBS Group lowered their price target on LPL Financial from $395.00 to $391.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $454.00 price objective on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on LPL Financial from $300.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, LPL Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $406.69.

LPL Financial Stock Up 2.6%

Shares of NASDAQ LPLA opened at $370.69 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $333.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $315.22. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $260.15 and a 12 month high of $400.16. The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.19 billion, a PE ratio of 29.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.48.

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

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. 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 presently 9.57%.

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.