California Public Employees Retirement System Decreases Stake in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA)

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 144,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,859 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $32,968,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its stake in LPL Financial by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $124,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in LPL Financial by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 417 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $99,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of LPL Financial by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 496 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of LPL Financial by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 985 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $224,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. Finally, Lido Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of LPL Financial by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 1,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $443,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LPLA opened at $266.32 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $263.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $241.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $179.00 and a one year high of $274.35. The company has a market cap of $19.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.51, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.84.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $3.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.33 by $0.18. LPL Financial had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 57.68%. The firm had revenue of $2.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.55 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.21 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 15.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 12th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 11th. LPL Financial’s payout ratio is 8.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LPLA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $254.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Raymond James began coverage on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. They set an “underperform” rating for the company. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $260.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $266.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $302.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, LPL Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $268.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at LPL Financial

In other LPL Financial news, CEO Dan H. Arnold sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.35, for a total value of $2,563,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 137,044 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,131,229.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Matthew Enyedi sold 1,381 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.94, for a total transaction of $354,834.14. Following the sale, the director now owns 8,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,218,419.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Dan H. Arnold sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.35, for a total transaction of $2,563,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 137,044 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,131,229.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 60,151 shares of company stock valued at $15,911,088 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

About LPL Financial

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.