Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 3,497 Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Key Points

• Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC increased its LPL stake by 5.7% in Q4, buying 3,497 shares to hold 65,328 shares (about 0.08% of LPL) valued at roughly $24.7 million, making it the fund’s 13th-largest holding.
• LPL beat Q4 expectations with EPS of $5.23 versus $4.82 estimated and revenue of $4.93 billion (up 8.4% YoY), and analysts forecast full-year EPS of about 19.35.
• Market sentiment is broadly positive—the stock carries a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $401.93—while institutional ownership is high (95.66%) even as insiders sold roughly 6,990 shares (~$2.2M) in the last three months.

Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA - Free Report) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,328 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,497 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial accounts for about 1.5% of Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC owned about 0.08% of LPL Financial worth $24,735,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in LPL Financial in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its position in LPL Financial by 912.5% in the third quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 81 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC bought a new position in LPL Financial in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. raised its position in LPL Financial by 550.0% in the fourth quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 78 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eastern Bank raised its position in LPL Financial by 72.0% in the third quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 86 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

LPL Financial Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of LPLA stock opened at $322.45 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $25.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.29, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $314.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $342.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 2.45 and a current ratio of 2.45. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $281.51 and a fifty-two week high of $403.58.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $5.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $4.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.90 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 34.19% and a net margin of 5.08%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.25 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 earnings per share for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 10th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 10th. LPL Financial's payout ratio is presently 10.90%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other LPL Financial news, Director Matthew Enyedi sold 2,109 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.15, for a total value of $675,196.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 14,121 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,520,838.15. The trade was a 12.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,581 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.50, for a total value of $506,710.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 21,382 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,852,931. The trade was a 6.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 6,990 shares of company stock worth $2,201,837. 0.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on LPLA shares. UBS Group upgraded LPL Financial from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $406.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Citizens Jmp restated a "market outperform" rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Barclays lowered their price objective on LPL Financial from $435.00 to $369.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Wolfe Research set a $478.00 price objective on LPL Financial in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on LPL Financial from $433.00 to $439.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $401.93.

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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