Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. Purchases New Shares in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Key Points

• Eurizon Capital SGR disclosed a new fourth-quarter position in LPL Financial, buying 15,475 shares worth about $5.53 million.
• LPL Financial reported Q1 earnings of $5.60 per share, topping estimates, though revenue of $4.94 billion came in slightly below expectations.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, while analysts currently maintain a Moderate Buy consensus with an average target price of $398.86.

Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. purchased a new stake in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 15,475 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,530,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LPLA. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 15,960.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,628,551 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $874,493,000 after acquiring an additional 2,612,184 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 27,955.5% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,141,019 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $407,538,000 after acquiring an additional 1,136,952 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox grew its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 23.2% during the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 3,329,255 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,107,610,000 after acquiring an additional 627,546 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,719,447 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,328,475,000 after acquiring an additional 477,094 shares during the period. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC boosted its stake in LPL Financial by 20.5% in the 3rd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,255,714 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $750,453,000 after purchasing an additional 383,466 shares during the period. 95.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

LPL Financial Price Performance

LPLA opened at $275.04 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a current ratio of 2.56. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $260.15 and a 52-week high of $403.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.00 billion, a PE ratio of 24.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.50. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $303.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $334.18.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.49 by $0.11. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 31.26% and a net margin of 4.93%.The firm had revenue of $4.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.15 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 34.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 22.98 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on LPL Financial from $464.00 to $383.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 6th. UBS Group raised their target price on LPL Financial from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen cut their target price on LPL Financial from $330.00 to $326.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on LPL Financial from $447.00 to $374.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $398.86.

Insider Transactions at LPL Financial

In other news, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 19,803 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,535,188.03. This represents a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 2,212 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.75, for a total value of $682,955.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,694,420. This trade represents a 28.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,879 shares of company stock valued at $1,538,826. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

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.

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