LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA Shares Bought by Allstate Corp

Allstate Corp grew its position in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 102.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,975 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,017 shares during the period. Allstate Corp’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $2,134,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in LPL Financial by 4.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,303,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,762,581,000 after acquiring an additional 317,002 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in LPL Financial by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,719,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,328,475,000 after acquiring an additional 477,094 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox increased its stake in LPL Financial by 23.2% during the third quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 3,329,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,107,610,000 after acquiring an additional 627,546 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in LPL Financial by 15,960.1% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,628,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $874,493,000 after acquiring an additional 2,612,184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC increased its stake in LPL Financial by 20.5% during the third quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,255,714 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $750,453,000 after acquiring an additional 383,466 shares during the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

LPL Financial Trading Down 2.1%

NASDAQ:LPLA opened at $265.86 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $304.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $335.62. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $260.15 and a 52 week high of $403.58. The company has a market cap of $21.26 billion, a PE ratio of 23.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.57.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.49 by $0.11. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 31.26% and a net margin of 4.93%.The company had revenue of $4.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.98 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.15 EPS. LPL Financial’s quarterly revenue was up 34.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 22.98 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on LPLA. UBS Group upped their price target on LPL Financial from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on LPL Financial from $396.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on LPL Financial from $464.00 to $383.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $478.00 target price on LPL Financial in a research report on Friday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $398.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other LPL Financial news, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 2,212 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.75, for a total transaction of $682,955.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,694,420. This trade represents a 28.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.01, for a total value of $366,311.10. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 19,803 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,535,188.03. This represents a 5.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 4,879 shares of company stock worth $1,538,826. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.