Quantitative Investment Management LLC Grows Stock Position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Quantitative Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 126.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,977 shares during the period. Quantitative Investment Management LLC’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $1,502,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of LPLA. Moore Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in LPL Financial in the second quarter valued at approximately $15,729,000. Two Sigma Securities LLC grew its holdings in LPL Financial by 59.4% during the 2nd quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC now owns 6,789 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,912,000 after acquiring an additional 2,530 shares in the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of LPL Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $254,000. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of LPL Financial by 48.5% in the 2nd quarter. Thornburg Investment Management Inc. now owns 54,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,483,000 after purchasing an additional 17,957 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,048,344 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $295,298,000 after purchasing an additional 45,367 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on LPLA. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $394.00 to $401.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on LPL Financial from $408.00 to $428.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted 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. 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. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Friday, July 24th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $406.69.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ LPLA opened at $370.14 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 2.39. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $260.15 and a 1 year high of $400.16. The company has a market capitalization of $29.14 billion, a PE ratio of 29.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a fifty day moving average of $334.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $314.74.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.39 by $0.45. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 32.20% and a net margin of 5.13%.The business had revenue of $5.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.51 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 24.09 earnings per share for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 14th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $357.36, for a total transaction of $110,066.88. Following the transaction, the director directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Greg Gates sold 4,119 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.38, for a total transaction of $1,463,810.22. Following the transaction, the director owned 23,602 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,387,678.76. This trade represents a 14.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 5,735 shares of company stock valued at $2,020,845 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Company 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.