LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley raised its LPL Financial price target from $393 to $399 and maintained an “overweight” rating, implying about 29% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: 14 analysts rate the stock Buy and three Hold, for a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average target of $401.
• LPL reported quarterly EPS of $5.97, above the $5.69 estimate, while revenue of $5.34 billion was slightly below forecasts; revenue grew 17.4% year over year.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA - Get Free Report) had its price target increased by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $393.00 to $399.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the financial services provider's stock. Morgan Stanley's target price would indicate a potential upside of 29.26% from the company's previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $362.00 to $350.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of LPL Financial from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 4th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on LPL Financial from $390.00 to $370.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on LPL Financial from $445.00 to $413.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $401.00.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

LPL Financial stock traded up $3.19 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $308.68. The company had a trading volume of 175,028 shares, compared to its average volume of 925,549. The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. LPL Financial has a 12-month low of $260.15 and a 12-month high of $400.16. The company's fifty day moving average is $322.86 and its 200-day moving average is $320.92. The company has a market capitalization of $24.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.55.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $5.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.69 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $5.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.35 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 32.05% and a net margin of 6.83%. LPL Financial's quarterly revenue was up 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.20 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that LPL Financial will post 23.45 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at LPL Financial

In other LPL Financial news, insider Katharine Reeping sold 440 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $347.88, for a total value of $153,067.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 1,774 shares of the company's stock, valued at $617,139.12. This trade represents a 19.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $357.36, for a total value of $110,066.88. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,107 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,182,397.52. The trade was a 4.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 4,867 shares of company stock valued at $1,726,944 over the last quarter. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in LPL Financial during the second quarter worth about $1,333,189,000. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in LPL Financial in the second quarter valued at about $1,182,595,000. SurgoCap Partners LP acquired a new stake in LPL Financial in the second quarter valued at about $299,487,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC purchased a new stake in LPL Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $290,481,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in LPL Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $229,756,000. 95.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

LPL Financial Company Profile

LPL Financial Holdings Inc provides brokerage and investment advisory services through a network of independent financial professionals. The company supports financial advisors, registered investment advisers, banks and credit unions with services designed to help them serve individual and institutional clients.

Its offerings include investment and retirement planning platforms, brokerage and advisory account services, custody, financial technology, research, compliance support and practice-management resources.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.