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

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $398.8571.

A number of brokerages recently commented on LPLA. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods started coverage on LPL Financial in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $350.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen decreased their target price on LPL Financial from $330.00 to $326.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on LPL Financial from $396.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Monday, April 6th.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

LPLA stock opened at $303.52 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. LPL Financial has a twelve month low of $281.51 and a twelve month high of $403.58. The business has a fifty day moving average of $309.30 and a 200-day moving average of $342.55. The company has a market cap of $24.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.10, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.57.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.49 by $0.11. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 31.26% and a net margin of 4.93%.The business had revenue of $4.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.15 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 34.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that LPL Financial will post 22.9 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be 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 is Thursday, May 21st. LPL Financial’s payout ratio is presently 10.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at LPL Financial

In other LPL Financial news, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 2,212 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.75, for a total value of $682,955.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,694,420. The trade was a 28.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Matthew Enyedi sold 2,109 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $320.15, for a total value of $675,196.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 14,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,520,838.15. The trade was a 12.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,569 shares of company stock valued at $2,720,733. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LPLA. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of LPL Financial during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of LPL Financial during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of LPL Financial by 3,650.0% during the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 75 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. boosted its position in shares of LPL Financial by 550.0% during the fourth quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 78 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Eastern Bank boosted its position in shares of LPL Financial by 72.0% during the third quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 86 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. 95.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.