Handelsbanken Fonder AB Has $7.18 Million Holdings in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $7,180,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dodge & Cox lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 77.3% in the second quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 2,701,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,013,060,000 after purchasing an additional 1,178,249 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of LPL Financial during the second quarter valued at $402,312,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in LPL Financial by 61.1% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,442,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $915,745,000 after buying an additional 926,122 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in LPL Financial by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,986,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,994,798,000 after acquiring an additional 613,909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in LPL Financial by 444.8% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 551,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $206,825,000 after acquiring an additional 450,326 shares in the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group set a $500.00 target price on LPL Financial in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $462.00 to $447.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $444.00 to $434.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $478.00 price target on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, LPL Financial presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $428.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other LPL Financial news, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,581 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.50, for a total transaction of $506,710.50. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 21,382 shares in the company, valued at $6,852,931. This trade represents a 6.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Matthew Enyedi sold 2,109 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $320.15, for a total transaction of $675,196.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 14,121 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,520,838.15. This represents a 12.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 9,498 shares of company stock worth $3,336,602. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

LPLA stock opened at $306.00 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.45, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The company has a market capitalization of $24.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.59. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $262.83 and a 12 month high of $403.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $356.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $352.85.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $5.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $4.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.90 billion. LPL Financial had a net margin of 5.08% and a return on equity of 34.19%. LPL Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.25 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 10th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 10.90%.

LPL Financial Company Profile

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.