Nordea Investment Management AB Raises Position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $2,471,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. acquired a new position in LPL Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at $70,000. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 5.8% during the second quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 1,730,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $631,664,000 after buying an additional 95,423 shares in the last quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of LPL Financial in the second quarter valued at about $217,000. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the second quarter worth about $2,233,000. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 26,533.3% in the second quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 2,397 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $899,000 after buying an additional 2,388 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on LPLA shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. JMP Securities raised their target price on LPL Financial from $440.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $490.00 to $462.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on LPL Financial in a research note on Friday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $405.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $398.38.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ LPLA opened at $339.18 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 3.22 and a quick ratio of 3.22. The company has a market cap of $27.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $341.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $353.51. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.55 and a 1-year high of $403.58.

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

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. LPL Financial’s payout ratio is currently 8.21%.

Insider Activity at LPL Financial

In other LPL Financial news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 80 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $361.25, for a total value of $28,900.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,016,497.50. This represents a 1.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Greg Gates sold 1,500 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $338.21, for a total transaction of $507,315.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 17,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,959,260.20. This trade represents a 7.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 3,830 shares of company stock valued at $1,333,105 in the last quarter. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.