LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) Research Coverage Started at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $405.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on LPLA. TD Cowen downgraded LPL Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $406.00 to $403.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup lowered shares of LPL Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of LPL Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 14th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $463.00 to $460.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised shares of LPL Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $420.00 to $460.00 in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, LPL Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $391.67.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

Shares of LPLA opened at $350.64 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $367.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $353.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 3.22 and a quick ratio of 3.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.05 billion, a PE ratio of 23.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.66. LPL Financial has a one year low of $205.50 and a one year high of $403.58.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.21 by $0.30. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 39.80% and a net margin of 7.91%.The firm had revenue of $3.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.88 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that LPL Financial will post 19.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 80 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $361.25, for a total transaction of $28,900.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,582 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,016,497.50. The trade was a 1.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Greg Gates sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $338.21, for a total value of $507,315.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 17,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,959,260.20. This represents a 7.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 4,580 shares of company stock valued at $1,671,235. 0.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of LPL Financial

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 1,918 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $627,000 after buying an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in LPL Financial by 195.1% during the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 3,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,093,000 after acquiring an additional 2,209 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of LPL Financial by 8.8% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,304,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $426,846,000 after acquiring an additional 105,665 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank boosted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 3.8% in the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 5,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,922,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 2,319.1% in the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $372,000 after acquiring an additional 1,090 shares during the period. 95.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About LPL Financial

LPL Financial Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides an integrated platform of brokerage and investment advisory services to independent financial advisors and financial advisors at enterprises in the United States. Its brokerage offerings include variable and fixed annuities, mutual funds, equities, fixed income, alternative investments, retirement and 529 education savings plans, and insurance.