Fifth Third Bancorp Grows Position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 4,273.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,263 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,914 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $4,591,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LPLA. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its position in LPL Financial by 1,260.0% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 204 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 2.1% during the first quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 24,326 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,316,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich boosted its position in shares of LPL Financial by 11.6% in the first quarter. Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich now owns 37,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,313,000 after buying an additional 3,923 shares during the period. Personal CFO Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 20.7% in the first quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 809 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Asset Strategies Inc. grew its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 4.3% in the first quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 13,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,142,000 after buying an additional 564 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at LPL Financial

In other LPL Financial news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.00, for a total transaction of $94,248.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,962,990. This trade represents a 4.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on LPLA. UBS Group reduced their price target on LPL Financial from $395.00 to $391.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on LPL Financial in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $350.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on LPL Financial from $390.00 to $408.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $397.92.

LPL Financial Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of LPL Financial stock opened at $324.90 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 1-year low of $260.15 and a 1-year high of $403.58. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $293.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $318.30. The company has a market capitalization of $25.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.01, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.50.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.49 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $4.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.98 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 31.26% and a net margin of 4.93%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.15 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 23.38 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 21st. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.71%.

LPL Financial 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.