Freestone Grove Partners LP Takes $50.17 Million Position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 178,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $50,174,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LPLA. Egerton Capital UK LLP acquired a new position in LPL Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $91,012,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 77,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,204,000 after purchasing an additional 5,179 shares in the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. grew its position in shares of LPL Financial by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 559,951 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $199,998,000 after purchasing an additional 6,630 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of LPL Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $371,616,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 56.6% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 158,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,713,000 after purchasing an additional 57,362 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at LPL Financial

In other news, Director Matthew Enyedi sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.72, for a total transaction of $352,720.00. Following the sale, the director owned 13,121 shares in the company, valued at $4,628,039.12. This trade represents a 7.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.00, for a total value of $94,248.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,415 shares in the company, valued at $1,962,990. This trade represents a 4.58% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 5,427 shares of company stock worth $1,910,778. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LPLA has been the subject of several research reports. Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $454.00 price objective on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on LPL Financial from $408.00 to $428.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on LPL Financial from $300.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $406.69.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LPLA opened at $360.24 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $28.37 billion, a PE ratio of 28.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.48. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $330.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $315.00.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.39 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $5.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.04 billion. LPL Financial had a net margin of 5.13% and a return on equity of 32.20%. The company’s revenue was up 35.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.51 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 24.09 earnings per share for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

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

LPL Financial 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.