Insider Selling: LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) Insider Sells $153,067.20 in Stock

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) insider Katharine Reeping sold 440 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $347.88, for a total value of $153,067.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,774 shares in the company, valued at $617,139.12. This represents a 19.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

LPL Financial Trading Down 2.3%

NASDAQ LPLA traded down $8.12 on Monday, hitting $345.66. 561,894 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 901,201. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $347.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $316.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 2.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.48. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $260.15 and a twelve month high of $400.16.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.39 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $5.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.04 billion. LPL Financial had a net margin of 5.13% and a return on equity of 32.20%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.51 earnings per share. Analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 24.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 9.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on LPLA shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $394.00 to $401.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on LPL Financial from $300.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Friday, July 24th. 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. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on LPL Financial from $395.00 to $391.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $405.79.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On LPL Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LPLA. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 29,129.4% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 34,308,342 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,663,974,000 after buying an additional 34,190,966 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of LPL Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,333,189,000. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in LPL Financial in the second quarter worth approximately $1,182,595,000. SurgoCap Partners LP acquired a new position in LPL Financial in the second quarter worth approximately $299,487,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in LPL Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $371,616,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Company Profile

LPL Financial Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LPLA) is the parent company of LPL Financial LLC, an independent broker-dealer and registered investment adviser that provides services and support to financial advisors. Rather than operating primarily through a proprietary branch network, LPL enables independent financial professionals, registered investment advisers, and advisors affiliated with banks and credit unions to operate their own practices while accessing investment products, technology, and business resources.

The company’s platform supports brokerage and fee-based advisory services, retirement plan services, insurance and annuity products, alternative investments, cash management, research, compliance, and practice management.