LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $398.8571.

Several research analysts recently commented on LPLA shares. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Monday, April 6th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $330.00 to $326.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $396.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st.

LPL Financial Price Performance

LPL Financial stock opened at $282.15 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $300.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $326.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.57 billion, a PE ratio of 25.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. LPL Financial has a 12-month low of $260.15 and a 12-month high of $403.58.

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

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 21st. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.71%.

Insider Activity

In other LPL Financial news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.00, for a total transaction of $94,248.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,962,990. This trade represents a 4.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.01, for a total transaction of $366,311.10. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 19,803 shares in the company, valued at $6,535,188.03. This trade represents a 5.31% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 1,887 shares of company stock worth $613,144 in the last ninety days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LPLA. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in LPL Financial by 42.7% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,153,000 after purchasing an additional 1,055 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in LPL Financial by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 209,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $68,414,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP purchased a new position in LPL Financial during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,636,000. Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in LPL Financial by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 4,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,426,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in LPL Financial during the 1st quarter valued at about $121,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Company 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.