Estate Counselors LLC Purchases Shares of 12,430 LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Key Points

• Estate Counselors LLC acquired a new position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. by purchasing 12,430 shares valued at approximately $4,066,000 in the first quarter.
• Several research firms have raised their target prices for the stock, with JMP Securities increasing it from $420.00 to $440.00 and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raising it from $425.00 to $435.00.
• LPL Financial reported earnings of $4.51 per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations and showing a 30.8% increase in revenue compared to the previous year.

Estate Counselors LLC purchased a new position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 12,430 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,066,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 8.9% in the first quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 1,918 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $627,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 195.1% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 3,341 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,093,000 after purchasing an additional 2,209 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 8.8% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,304,780 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $426,846,000 after purchasing an additional 105,665 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank raised its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 3.8% in the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 5,875 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,922,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 2,319.1% in the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,137 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $372,000 after purchasing an additional 1,090 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.66% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at LPL Financial

In other LPL Financial news, Director Greg Gates sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $374.05, for a total transaction of $561,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 19,120 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,151,836. The trade was a 7.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.70% of the company's stock.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

LPL Financial stock traded up $4.02 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $364.45. 314,106 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 810,088. The business's 50-day moving average is $373.04 and its 200-day moving average is $355.51. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $204.41 and a 12-month high of $403.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 3.22 and a quick ratio of 3.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.16 billion, a PE ratio of 24.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.66.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.21 by $0.30. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 39.80% and a net margin of 7.91%.The business had revenue of $3.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.88 earnings per share. LPL Financial's revenue for the quarter was up 30.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. LPL Financial's payout ratio is currently 8.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LPLA. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on LPL Financial from $402.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on LPL Financial from $420.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on LPL Financial from $425.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen cut LPL Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 14th. Finally, TD Cowen cut LPL Financial from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $406.00 to $403.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $383.58.

About LPL Financial

LPL Financial Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides an integrated platform of brokerage and investment advisory services to independent financial advisors and financial advisors at enterprises in the United States. Its brokerage offerings include variable and fixed annuities, mutual funds, equities, fixed income, alternative investments, retirement and 529 education savings plans, and insurance.