21,322 Shares in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA Acquired by CenterBook Partners LP

CenterBook Partners LP acquired a new position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 21,322 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,616,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. raised its stake in LPL Financial by 24.5% in the third quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 187,973 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,537,000 after buying an additional 36,950 shares in the last quarter. Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich bought a new position in LPL Financial in the third quarter worth approximately $1,975,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of LPL Financial by 14.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 477,094 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of LPL Financial during the third quarter worth $4,583,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of LPL Financial by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 77,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,204,000 after purchasing an additional 5,179 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at LPL Financial

In related news, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.01, for a total value of $366,311.10. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 19,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,535,188.03. This represents a 5.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 1,088 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.72, for a total value of $336,975.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,362,768. The trade was a 19.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,667 shares of company stock worth $855,871. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

LPL Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ LPLA opened at $288.49 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.56 and a quick ratio of 2.56. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $302.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $331.74. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $260.15 and a 1 year high of $403.58. The company has a market cap of $23.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.76, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.50.

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

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

LPLA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods initiated coverage on LPL Financial in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $350.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on LPL Financial from $447.00 to $374.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. UBS Group upped their price target on LPL Financial from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on LPL Financial from $396.00 to $390.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $398.86.

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.