Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Increases Holdings in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 1,408.8% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 54,964 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 51,321 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $20,610,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 1,918 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $627,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in LPL Financial by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,304,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $426,846,000 after buying an additional 105,665 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in LPL Financial by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 5,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,922,000 after buying an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in LPL Financial by 198.3% in the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,125,000 after buying an additional 4,319 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its stake in LPL Financial by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 15,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,205,000 after buying an additional 1,114 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 80 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $361.25, for a total transaction of $28,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 5,582 shares in the company, valued at $2,016,497.50. This represents a 1.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Greg Gates sold 750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.42, for a total value of $235,815.00. Following the sale, the director owned 16,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,304,265.40. The trade was a 4.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,830 shares of company stock valued at $1,333,105. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LPLA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on LPL Financial from $425.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Barclays reduced their target price on LPL Financial from $460.00 to $411.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on LPL Financial from $490.00 to $462.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on LPL Financial in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $365.00 price target for the company. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price target on LPL Financial from $440.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $398.38.

LPL Financial Trading Down 0.5%

LPLA stock opened at $338.18 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $27.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.13, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 3.22, a current ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $341.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $353.61. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.55 and a 52 week high of $403.58.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.21 by $0.30. The business had revenue of $3.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.77 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 39.80% and a net margin of 7.91%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.88 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.21%.

LPL Financial Company Profile

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.