8,916 Shares in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA Bought by Polar Asset Management Partners Inc.

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 8,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,682,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LPLA. Egerton Capital UK LLP acquired a new position in shares of LPL Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $91,012,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of LPL Financial by 14.7% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,719,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,328,475,000 after purchasing an additional 477,094 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in LPL Financial by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 77,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,204,000 after purchasing an additional 5,179 shares during the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. raised its stake in LPL Financial by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 559,951 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $199,998,000 after purchasing an additional 6,630 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in LPL Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $371,616,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at LPL Financial

In other news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.00, for a total value of $94,248.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,962,990. This represents a 4.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on LPLA shares. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $330.00 to $326.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $412.00 to $394.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $464.00 to $383.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $374.00 to $387.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods started coverage on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $350.00 price objective for the company. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $397.92.

LPL Financial Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of LPLA opened at $331.72 on Tuesday. 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 Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $260.15 and a 12-month high of $403.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $297.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $316.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.62, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.50.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. LPL Financial had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 31.26%. The firm had revenue of $4.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.98 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.15 earnings per share. LPL Financial’s revenue was up 34.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 23.38 EPS for the current year.

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.