Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC decreased its holdings in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 49.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 99,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 99,170 shares during the quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC owned 0.12% of LPL Financial worth $35,649,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LPLA. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in LPL Financial by 42.7% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,153,000 after buying an additional 1,055 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in LPL Financial by 0.5% in 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 during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP purchased a new position in LPL Financial in the 1st quarter worth about $1,636,000. Focus Partners Wealth raised 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 worth $1,426,000 after buying an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in LPL Financial in the 1st quarter worth about $121,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LPLA has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $396.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $464.00 to $383.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 6th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $330.00 to $326.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $500.00 price target on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Monday, April 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, LPL Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $398.86.

Insider Transactions at LPL Financial

In related news, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.01, for a total value of $366,311.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 19,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,535,188.03. This represents a 5.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Trading Down 1.6%

LPL Financial stock opened at $283.75 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $302.39 and a 200 day moving average of $331.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.50. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $260.15 and a 12-month high of $403.58. 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 earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $4.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.98 billion. LPL Financial had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 31.26%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 34.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $5.15 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 22.98 earnings per share for the current year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 21st. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.