Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Sells 42,061 Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC reduced its stake in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 68.1% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 19,661 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 42,061 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $5,915,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LPLA. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH increased its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 38.5% during the 1st quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 348,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $104,719,000 after purchasing an additional 96,704 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA grew its position in LPL Financial by 22.0% during the first quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA now owns 2,663 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $791,000 after buying an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN grew its position in LPL Financial by 9.3% during the first quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 1,242 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $374,000 after buying an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. OP Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in LPL Financial during the first quarter valued at about $2,538,000. Finally, Ocean Park Asset Management LLC bought a new position in LPL Financial during the first quarter valued at about $21,519,000. 95.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other LPL Financial news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of the company’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 directly owned 6,415 shares in the company, valued at $1,962,990. This represents a 4.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of the 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 owned 19,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,535,188.03. This represents a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 1,887 shares of company stock worth $613,144 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on LPLA. TD Cowen cut their price target on LPL Financial from $330.00 to $326.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective 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. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $500.00 target price on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Monday, April 6th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $398.86.

LPL Financial Price Performance

Shares of LPLA opened at $295.18 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $294.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $321.85. The stock has a market cap of $23.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.50. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $260.15 and a 12 month high of $403.58.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $4.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.98 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.15 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 34.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 22.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

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

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.