Mackenzie Financial Corp Purchases 815 Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA)

Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 815 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $2,370,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Smithfield Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 164.4% during the third quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in LPL Financial by 770.0% in the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in LPL Financial by 724.2% in the third quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new stake in shares of LPL Financial in the fourth quarter worth $73,000. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC bought a new position in shares of LPL Financial during the fourth quarter valued at $89,000. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LPLA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $260.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of LPL Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $254.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on LPL Financial from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays increased their target price on LPL Financial from $302.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $254.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $268.36.

Insider Transactions at LPL Financial

In related news, Director Kabir Sethi sold 1,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.50, for a total value of $346,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,730,292.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other LPL Financial news, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 5,574 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.52, for a total transaction of $1,485,582.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,641,462.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kabir Sethi sold 1,300 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.50, for a total transaction of $346,450.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 10,245 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,730,292.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 60,151 shares of company stock valued at $15,911,088 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ LPLA opened at $264.29 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The business’s fifty day moving average is $263.14 and its 200 day moving average is $241.11. The company has a market capitalization of $19.74 billion, a PE ratio of 19.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.84. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $179.00 and a fifty-two week high of $274.35.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $3.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.33 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $2.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.55 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 57.68% and a net margin of 10.61%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.21 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 15.55 earnings per share for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 12th were given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 11th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. LPL Financial’s payout ratio is currently 8.79%.

About LPL Financial

LPL Financial Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides an integrated platform of brokerage and investment advisory services to independent financial advisors and financial advisors at enterprises in the United States. Its brokerage offerings include variable and fixed annuities, mutual funds, equities, fixed income, alternative investments, retirement and 529 education savings plans, and insurance.