Wellington Management Group LLP Cuts Stock Position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Wellington Management Group LLP cut its stake in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 45.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 77,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 64,271 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 0.10% of LPL Financial worth $21,933,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LPLA. Goldstein Advisors LLC raised its position in LPL Financial by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC now owns 634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $226,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 5,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,956,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,318 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $828,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,191 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $425,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 0.7% during the first quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 5,705 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,716,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on LPLA. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $454.00 price objective on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on LPL Financial from $300.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. UBS Group cut their target price on LPL Financial from $395.00 to $391.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. TD Cowen raised their price target on LPL Financial from $372.00 to $377.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $405.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other LPL Financial news, Director Matthew Enyedi sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.72, for a total value of $352,720.00. Following the sale, the director owned 13,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,628,039.12. This represents a 7.08% 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. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Greg Gates sold 4,119 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.38, for a total value of $1,463,810.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 23,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,387,678.76. This represents a 14.86% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 5,735 shares of company stock worth $2,020,845 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LPLA opened at $359.33 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.48. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $260.15 and a 52 week high of $400.16. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $340.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $315.41. The company has a quick ratio of 2.39, a current ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.39 by $0.45. LPL Financial had a net margin of 5.13% and a return on equity of 32.20%. The company had revenue of $5.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.51 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 24.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.57%.

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.