LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA Shares Bought by Saudi Central Bank

Saudi Central Bank raised its position in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 90.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,613 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,659 shares during the quarter. Saudi Central Bank’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $1,581,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Egerton Capital UK LLP purchased a new stake in LPL Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $91,012,000. Markel Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 559,951 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $199,998,000 after acquiring an additional 6,630 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of LPL Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $371,616,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 56.6% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 158,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,713,000 after purchasing an additional 57,362 shares during the period. Finally, ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd acquired a new stake in LPL Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $2,822,000. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LPLA. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Friday, July 24th. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. They set a “hold” rating and a $389.00 price target for the company. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $454.00 target price on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $394.00 to $401.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on LPL Financial from $300.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, LPL Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $405.79.

LPL Financial Price Performance

LPL Financial stock opened at $350.22 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $27.58 billion, a PE ratio of 27.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $343.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $315.79. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $260.15 and a 12 month high of $400.16.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.39 by $0.45. LPL Financial had a net margin of 5.13% and a return on equity of 32.20%. The firm had revenue of $5.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.51 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 24.06 earnings per share for the current year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Matthew Enyedi sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $352.72, for a total value of $352,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 13,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,628,039.12. The trade was a 7.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $357.36, for a total transaction of $110,066.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,107 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,182,397.52. This trade represents a 4.80% 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,735 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,845. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

About LPL Financial

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.