LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $398.8571.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on LPLA shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods started coverage on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $350.00 target price for the company. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $464.00 to $383.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $330.00 to $326.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 1,088 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.72, for a total transaction of $336,975.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,362,768. The trade was a 19.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.01, for a total transaction of $366,311.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 19,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,535,188.03. This trade represents a 5.31% 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 4,879 shares of company stock valued at $1,538,826 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of LPL Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in LPL Financial by 7.2% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,711 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $816,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the period. Argent Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in LPL Financial by 50.9% in the first quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 28,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,680,000 after acquiring an additional 9,728 shares during the period. Western Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in LPL Financial in the first quarter worth about $151,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in LPL Financial by 0.9% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 803,428 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $241,695,000 after acquiring an additional 7,257 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in LPL Financial by 8.6% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,666,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,103,079,000 after acquiring an additional 289,227 shares during the period. 95.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

LPL Financial Stock Up 3.2%

NASDAQ LPLA opened at $291.84 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a fifty day moving average of $303.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $332.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.06, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.50. LPL Financial has a 52 week low of $260.15 and a 52 week high of $403.58.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.49 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $4.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was up 34.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.15 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that LPL Financial will post 22.98 earnings per share for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 21st. LPL Financial’s payout ratio is currently 10.71%.

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.