LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA Shares Sold by Swedbank AB

Swedbank AB trimmed its position in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 9.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 72,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,000 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $25,890,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stratos Investment Management LLC increased its stake in LPL Financial by 4.2% in the third quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC now owns 715 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of LPL Financial by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $280,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Natural Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Natural Investments LLC now owns 727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $259,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $174,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 1.0% during the third quarter. Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 3,888 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,294,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on LPLA shares. UBS Group raised their target price on LPL Financial from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Wolfe Research set a $478.00 price objective on LPL Financial in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on LPL Financial from $447.00 to $374.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on LPL Financial from $396.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $398.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 1,088 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.72, for a total value of $336,975.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,400 shares in the company, valued at $1,362,768. This represents a 19.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Matthew Enyedi sold 2,109 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $320.15, for a total value of $675,196.35. Following the sale, the director directly owned 14,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,520,838.15. This represents a 12.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 8,569 shares of company stock worth $2,720,733 over the last 90 days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

LPL Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LPLA opened at $285.78 on Tuesday. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $274.93 and a twelve month high of $403.58. The company has a current ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $22.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $305.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $337.74.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.49 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $4.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.98 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 31.26% and a net margin of 4.93%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 34.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.15 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 22.98 earnings per share for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 10.71%.

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.