Cigna Investments Inc. New Increases Stock Holdings in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Cigna Investments Inc. New grew its position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 5.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 786 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 40 shares during the quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $295,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in LPLA. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of LPL Financial by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $799,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $205,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $6,821,000. Finally, Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH purchased a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $271,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LPLA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut LPL Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $390.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on LPL Financial from $402.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Rothschild Redb lowered LPL Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on LPL Financial from $425.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised LPL Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $420.00 to $460.00 in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $391.54.

Insider Transactions at LPL Financial

In other news, Director Greg Gates sold 1,500 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.21, for a total value of $507,315.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 17,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,959,260.20. The trade was a 7.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 80 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $361.25, for a total value of $28,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,582 shares in the company, valued at $2,016,497.50. This represents a 1.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 4,580 shares of company stock worth $1,671,235. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

LPL Financial Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:LPLA opened at $336.52 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $360.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $353.45. The company has a current ratio of 3.22, a quick ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $222.74 and a 12-month high of $403.58. The firm has a market cap of $26.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.02, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.66.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.51 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $3.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.88 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 30.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.21%.

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.