National Pension Service Buys 2,186 Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 1.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 116,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,186 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $38,920,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of LPLA. AGF Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 74.9% in the second quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 765,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $286,861,000 after purchasing an additional 327,580 shares in the last quarter. Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in LPL Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at $316,000. Callan Family Office LLC bought a new position in LPL Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,514,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in LPL Financial by 30.0% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 191,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $71,524,000 after acquiring an additional 44,249 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ellevest Inc. bought a new stake in shares of LPL Financial in the 2nd quarter worth $340,000. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on LPLA shares. Raymond James Financial raised shares of LPL Financial from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $433.00 to $439.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings reissued 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 report on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $421.00 price target on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Friday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and six 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 $427.69.

LPL Financial Trading Up 3.2%

NASDAQ:LPLA opened at $376.33 on Tuesday. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $366.80 and its 200 day moving average is $358.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.12 billion, a PE ratio of 34.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.58.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $5.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $4.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.90 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 35.99% and a net margin of 5.08%.LPL Financial’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $4.25 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 earnings per share for the current year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. LPL Financial’s payout ratio is currently 10.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling at LPL Financial

In other news, CEO Richard Steinmeier sold 5,058 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.99, for a total value of $1,876,467.42. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Greg Gates sold 750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.97, for a total transaction of $278,227.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 14,620 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,423,581.40. This trade represents a 4.88% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 7,388 shares of company stock valued at $2,747,538 over the last three months. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.