North Dakota State Investment Board Buys Shares of 2,806 LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new stake in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 2,806 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,002,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stratos Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in LPL Financial by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC now owns 715 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $238,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in LPL Financial by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Natural Investments LLC lifted its holdings in LPL Financial by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Natural Investments LLC now owns 727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC lifted its holdings in LPL Financial by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $174,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in LPL Financial by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 3,888 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

LPL Financial Stock Down 1.2%

LPLA opened at $283.83 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $306.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $339.65. The company has a market cap of $22.70 billion, a PE ratio of 25.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.57. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $281.51 and a 1 year high of $403.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a current ratio of 2.56.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.49 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $4.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.98 billion. LPL Financial had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 31.26%. The company’s revenue was up 34.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.15 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 22.98 earnings per share for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 10.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Matthew Enyedi sold 2,109 shares of the 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 sale, the director owned 14,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,520,838.15. This represents a 12.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.01, for a total transaction of $366,311.10. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 19,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,535,188.03. This trade represents a 5.31% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders sold 8,569 shares of company stock valued at $2,720,733. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LPLA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $396.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $330.00 to $326.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Wolfe Research set a $478.00 price objective on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Friday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, LPL Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $398.86.

LPL Financial 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.