LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA Stock Position Reduced by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Hsbc Holdings PLC cut its position in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 41.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 58,411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 41,655 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $20,884,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of LPL Financial by 3,650.0% during the 4th quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 75 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Core Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in LPL Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Pinpoint Asset Management Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in LPL Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. 95.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.01, for a total transaction of $366,311.10. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 19,803 shares in the company, valued at $6,535,188.03. The trade was a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.00, for a total transaction of $94,248.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,962,990. The trade was a 4.58% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 1,887 shares of company stock valued at $613,144 in the last quarter. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on LPLA. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on LPL Financial from $447.00 to $374.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on LPL Financial from $464.00 to $383.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Monday, April 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $398.86.

LPL Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ LPLA opened at $307.58 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $294.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $320.70. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $260.15 and a 52 week high of $403.58. The stock has a market cap of $24.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $4.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.98 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 22.94 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. 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 payout ratio is 10.71%.

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.