Railway Pension Investments Ltd Acquires 81,880 Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Railway Pension Investments Ltd raised its holdings in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 22.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 445,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 81,880 shares during the period. LPL Financial accounts for about 1.9% of Railway Pension Investments Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Railway Pension Investments Ltd’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $159,041,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in LPL Financial by 4.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,303,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,762,581,000 after buying an additional 317,002 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in LPL Financial by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,719,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,328,475,000 after buying an additional 477,094 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox lifted its holdings in LPL Financial by 23.2% in the third quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 3,329,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,107,610,000 after buying an additional 627,546 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in LPL Financial by 15,960.1% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,628,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $874,493,000 after buying an additional 2,612,184 shares during the period. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC lifted its holdings in LPL Financial by 20.5% in the third quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,255,714 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $750,453,000 after buying an additional 383,466 shares during the period. 95.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LPLA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Monday, April 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $350.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, LPL Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $398.86.

LPL Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LPLA opened at $273.77 on Friday. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $260.15 and a fifty-two week high of $403.58. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $304.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $335.18. The company has a market capitalization of $21.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.57. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.49 by $0.11. LPL Financial had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 31.26%. The business had revenue of $4.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.98 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 22.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other LPL Financial news, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.01, for a total transaction of $366,311.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 2,212 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.75, for a total transaction of $682,955.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,694,420. This represents a 28.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 4,879 shares of company stock valued at $1,538,826 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.