Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC Has $888,000 Stock Holdings in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC cut its stake in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 68.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,485 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,475 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $888,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of LPL Financial by 0.7% during the third quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 1,742,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $593,663,000 after purchasing an additional 12,214 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance raised its position in shares of LPL Financial by 41.5% during the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 5,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,777,000 after purchasing an additional 1,566 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of LPL Financial by 116.6% during the third quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 5,568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,852,000 after purchasing an additional 2,997 shares during the period. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. raised its position in shares of LPL Financial by 24.5% during the third quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 187,973 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,537,000 after purchasing an additional 36,950 shares during the period. Finally, Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich acquired a new stake in shares of LPL Financial during the third quarter worth $1,975,000. 95.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

Shares of LPLA stock opened at $273.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.56 and a quick ratio of 2.56. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $260.15 and a fifty-two week high of $403.58. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $304.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $335.18. The firm has a market cap of $21.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.44, a PEG ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 0.57.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $4.98 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 31.26% and a net margin of 4.93%.The business’s revenue was up 34.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.15 EPS. Analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 22.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LPLA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on LPL Financial from $396.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Barclays increased their price objective on LPL Financial from $369.00 to $412.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group increased their price objective on LPL Financial from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $478.00 price objective on LPL Financial in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $398.86.

Insider Transactions at LPL Financial

In other news, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 2,212 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $1,694,420. This represents a 28.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 4,879 shares of company stock worth $1,538,826. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About LPL Financial

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.