Allstate Corp Makes New Investment in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Allstate Corp acquired a new stake in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $984,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dodge & Cox lifted its position in shares of LPL Financial by 77.3% in the second quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 2,701,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,013,060,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178,249 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in LPL Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $402,312,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in LPL Financial by 61.1% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,442,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $915,745,000 after purchasing an additional 926,122 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in LPL Financial by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,986,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,994,798,000 after purchasing an additional 613,909 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in LPL Financial by 444.8% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 551,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $206,825,000 after purchasing an additional 450,326 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:LPLA opened at $370.95 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $29.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.16, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.57. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $262.83 and a 12 month high of $403.58. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $365.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $358.83.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.49 by $0.71. The company had revenue of $4.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.08 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 36.80% and a net margin of 5.35%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 46.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.16 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict 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 Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 13th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 13th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.05%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LPLA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research set a $486.00 target price on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of LPL Financial from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $406.00 price target on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on LPL Financial from $453.00 to $444.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $429.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other LPL Financial news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 80 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $352.48, for a total transaction of $28,198.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,939,344.96. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard Steinmeier sold 5,058 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.99, for a total transaction of $1,876,467.42. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 9,326 shares in the company, valued at $3,459,852.74. This trade represents a 35.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 7,388 shares of company stock worth $2,747,538 over the last three months. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.