Greg Gates Sells 4,119 Shares of LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) Stock

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Director Greg Gates sold 4,119 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.38, for a total transaction of $1,463,810.22. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 23,602 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,387,678.76. This represents a 14.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

LPL Financial Trading Up 2.1%

Shares of LPL Financial stock traded up $7.33 during trading on Friday, hitting $361.35. The stock had a trading volume of 477,070 shares, compared to its average volume of 929,650. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $260.15 and a 12 month high of $400.16. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $325.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $315.54. The stock has a market cap of $28.45 billion, a PE ratio of 28.82, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.48.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.39 by $0.45. LPL Financial had a net margin of 5.13% and a return on equity of 32.20%. The company had revenue of $5.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $4.51 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 24.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. LPL Financial’s payout ratio is 9.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on LPLA. Barclays increased their price target on LPL Financial from $394.00 to $401.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group cut their price objective on LPL Financial from $395.00 to $391.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Friday, July 24th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on LPL Financial from $330.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $300.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, LPL Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $406.69.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in LPL Financial during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,333,189,000. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in LPL Financial during the second quarter worth $1,182,595,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC bought a new stake in LPL Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $450,493,000. SurgoCap Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at $299,487,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $371,616,000. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.