2,208 Shares in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA Purchased by Wealthfront Advisers LLC

Wealthfront Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $622,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 42.7% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,153,000 after purchasing an additional 1,055 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in LPL Financial by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 209,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $68,414,000 after buying an additional 1,089 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new stake in LPL Financial during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,636,000. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in LPL Financial by 12.2% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 4,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,426,000 after buying an additional 473 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in LPL Financial in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $121,000. 95.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on LPLA shares. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $454.00 price objective on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Friday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on LPL Financial from $365.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on LPL Financial from $300.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on LPL Financial from $408.00 to $428.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, LPL Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $406.69.

LPL Financial Price Performance

LPL Financial stock opened at $361.35 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $326.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $315.86. The stock has a market cap of $28.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.48. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $260.15 and a 12-month high of $400.16.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.39 by $0.45. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 32.20% and a net margin of 5.13%.The firm had revenue of $5.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.51 earnings per share. LPL Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 24.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is 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 presently 9.57%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Greg Gates sold 4,119 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.38, for a total transaction of $1,463,810.22. Following the sale, the director owned 23,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,387,678.76. This trade represents a 14.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Matthew Enyedi sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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. The trade was a 7.08% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,427 shares of company stock worth $1,910,778. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.