Simplicity Wealth LLC Buys Shares of 1,935 LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Simplicity Wealth LLC bought a new position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 1,935 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $545,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LPLA. Egerton Capital UK LLP bought a new position in LPL Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $91,012,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in 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 worth $28,204,000 after acquiring an additional 5,179 shares in the last quarter. Markel Group Inc. grew its position in LPL Financial by 1.2% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of LPL Financial during the 4th quarter worth $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 during the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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 dated Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $352.72, for a total transaction of $352,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 13,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,628,039.12. This trade represents a 7.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.00, for a total transaction of $94,248.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,962,990. The trade was a 4.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of LPL Financial stock opened at $368.20 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The company has a market cap of $28.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.36, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.48. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $320.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $315.63. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $260.15 and a 1 year 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.39 by $0.45. LPL Financial had a net margin of 5.13% and a return on equity of 32.20%. The business had revenue of $5.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.51 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 24.09 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $365.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on LPL Financial from $374.00 to $387.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Barclays boosted their price target on LPL Financial from $394.00 to $401.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on LPL Financial from $330.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, LPL Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $406.69.

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.