LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA Shares Bought by APG Asset Management N.V.

APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its stake in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 51.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 767,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 259,740 shares during the quarter. APG Asset Management N.V.’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $255,284,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of LPL Financial during the second quarter worth $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its stake in LPL Financial by 912.5% in the 3rd quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 81 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in LPL Financial during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Eastern Bank grew its stake in LPL Financial by 72.0% during the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 86 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 116.2% in the second quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 80 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LPLA opened at $300.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 2.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.28, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $357.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $353.22. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $262.83 and a 12 month high of $403.58.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $5.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.82 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $4.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.90 billion. LPL Financial had a net margin of 5.08% and a return on equity of 34.19%. The business’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.25 EPS. Analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 10th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.90%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $399.00 to $378.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 30th. Wolfe Research set a $478.00 price target on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $426.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, LPL Financial presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $428.71.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,581 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.50, for a total value of $506,710.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 21,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,852,931. This represents a 6.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Matthew Enyedi sold 2,109 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.15, for a total value of $675,196.35. Following the transaction, the director owned 14,121 shares in the company, valued at $4,520,838.15. This represents a 12.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 9,578 shares of company stock worth $3,364,800. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.