LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) Director Greg Gates Sells 4,119 Shares

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Director Greg Gates sold 4,119 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.38, for a total transaction of $1,463,810.22. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 23,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,387,678.76. The trade was a 14.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

LPL Financial Price Performance

Shares of LPLA opened at $361.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 2.39 and a current ratio of 2.39. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $260.15 and a fifty-two week high of $400.16. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $326.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $315.86. The company has a market capitalization of $28.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.48.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.84 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $5.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.51 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 24.09 earnings per share for the current year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. LPL Financial’s payout ratio is presently 9.57%.

Institutional Trading of LPL Financial

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Goldstein Advisors LLC grew its holdings in LPL Financial by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Goldstein Advisors LLC now owns 634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $226,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in LPL Financial by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 5,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,956,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in LPL Financial by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,318 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $828,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of LPL Financial by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,191 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $425,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in shares of LPL Financial by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 5,705 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,716,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. 95.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LPLA. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $374.00 to $387.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $454.00 price objective on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $365.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $394.00 to $401.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, LPL Financial presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $406.69.

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.