LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA Shares Sold by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors LP holds a stake of approximately $275.79 million in LPL Financial, owning about 1.06% of the company after slightly decreasing its position in Q1.
• LPL Financial reported earnings of $4.51 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations with a revenue increase of 30.8% year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, with an annualized yield of 0.3%, to be paid on August 29th.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP trimmed its holdings in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA - Free Report) by 0.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 842,939 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 3,128 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 1.06% of LPL Financial worth $275,789,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LPLA. Mariner LLC lifted its position in LPL Financial by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 12,611 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,117,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of LPL Financial by 51.2% during the fourth quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 5,293 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,728,000 after purchasing an additional 1,793 shares in the last quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of LPL Financial by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,203 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $393,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of LPL Financial by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 725,572 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $236,907,000 after purchasing an additional 25,538 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Curi RMB Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of LPL Financial during the fourth quarter worth $261,000. 95.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $420.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. TD Cowen cut shares of LPL Financial from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $406.00 to $403.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $402.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $490.00 target price (up from $450.00) on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $460.00 to $463.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, LPL Financial presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $383.58.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

LPLA stock traded up $3.80 during trading on Friday, hitting $365.04. 376,389 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 811,772. The company has a quick ratio of 3.22, a current ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $204.41 and a 52 week high of $403.58. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $373.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $355.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.66.

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

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at LPL Financial

In other news, Director Greg Gates sold 1,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $374.05, for a total transaction of $561,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 19,120 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,151,836. This represents a 7.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

LPL Financial Profile

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.