Strs Ohio Lowers Stock Holdings in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Strs Ohio cut its holdings in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 18.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,996 shares during the period. Strs Ohio’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $4,682,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in LPL Financial in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. increased its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 550.0% during the 4th quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 78 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of LPL Financial during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Eastern Bank lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 72.0% during the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 86 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of LPL Financial in the third quarter worth approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LPLA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $464.00 to $383.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Monday, April 27th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $330.00 to $326.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. UBS Group upped their price objective on LPL Financial from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, LPL Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $398.86.

Insider Activity at LPL Financial

In other LPL Financial news, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 1,088 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.72, for a total value of $336,975.36. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,362,768. This trade represents a 19.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 19,803 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,535,188.03. The trade was a 5.31% 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. Insiders sold a total of 8,569 shares of company stock valued at $2,720,733 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LPLA opened at $327.58 on Wednesday. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $281.51 and a 1-year high of $403.58. The business has a 50-day moving average of $308.86 and a 200-day moving average of $342.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 2.45. The company has a market capitalization of $26.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.25, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.57.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.49 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $4.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.98 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 32.06% and a net margin of 4.93%.The company’s revenue was up 34.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.15 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 23.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. LPL Financial’s payout ratio is 10.71%.

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.