Matthew Audette Sells 1,110 Shares of LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) Stock

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) CFO Matthew Audette sold 1,110 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.01, for a total value of $366,311.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 19,803 shares in the company, valued at $6,535,188.03. This trade represents a 5.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

LPL Financial Trading Down 5.7%

Shares of NASDAQ LPLA traded down $18.84 during trading on Thursday, reaching $312.57. The company had a trading volume of 1,157,395 shares, compared to its average volume of 969,636. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $313.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $342.35. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $281.51 and a 12 month high of $403.58. The stock has a market cap of $25.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.39, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 2.45, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $5.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.41. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 34.19% and a net margin of 5.08%.The firm had revenue of $4.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.25 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 earnings per share for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. LPL Financial’s payout ratio is 10.90%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On LPL Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of LPL Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC raised its stake 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 worth $27,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. raised its stake in LPL Financial by 550.0% during the 4th quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 78 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in LPL Financial during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its stake in LPL Financial by 912.5% during the 3rd quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 81 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LPLA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded LPL Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $406.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Wolfe Research set a $478.00 target price on LPL Financial in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $500.00 target price on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Monday, April 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, LPL Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $401.93.

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.