Compass Financial Services Inc Boosts Stake in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Compass Financial Services Inc increased its stake in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 14.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 229 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Compass Financial Services Inc’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $75,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,372,857 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,411,956,000 after buying an additional 154,200 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 2,681,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $877,264,000 after buying an additional 20,881 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox grew its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 224.1% in the 1st quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 1,523,460 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $498,385,000 after buying an additional 1,053,351 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 35.9% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,516,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $495,964,000 after buying an additional 400,352 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,304,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $426,846,000 after buying an additional 105,665 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on LPLA. Barclays cut their price target on LPL Financial from $463.00 to $460.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on LPL Financial from $402.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded LPL Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $420.00 to $460.00 in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $490.00 price objective (up from $450.00) on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, TD Cowen cut LPL Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $406.00 to $403.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $383.33.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

LPLA stock opened at $347.71 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.82 billion, a PE ratio of 23.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.66. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $205.50 and a 12-month high of $403.58. The company has a current ratio of 3.22, a quick ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $368.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $354.09.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.21 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $3.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.77 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 39.80% and a net margin of 7.91%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 30.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.88 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at LPL Financial

In other news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 80 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $361.25, for a total transaction of $28,900.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,016,497.50. This represents a 1.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Greg Gates sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $374.05, for a total value of $561,075.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 19,120 shares in the company, valued at $7,151,836. The trade was a 7.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,580 shares of company stock worth $1,671,235 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Company Profile

LPL Financial Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides an integrated platform of brokerage and investment advisory services to independent financial advisors and financial advisors at enterprises in the United States. Its brokerage offerings include variable and fixed annuities, mutual funds, equities, fixed income, alternative investments, retirement and 529 education savings plans, and insurance.