Janus Henderson Group PLC Purchases 280,202 Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Key Points

• Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in LPL Financial by 9% in the fourth quarter, buying 280,202 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 3.38 million shares, worth about $1.21 billion.
• LPL Financial also saw mixed insider and institutional activity: CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares under a pre-arranged trading plan, while institutional investors now own 95.66% of the company.
• Analysts remain generally bullish on LPLA, with an average “Moderate Buy” rating and price target of $398.86, while the company recently beat earnings expectations with $5.60 EPS and continued paying a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share.

Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA - Free Report) by 9.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,377,553 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 280,202 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned approximately 4.22% of LPL Financial worth $1,206,371,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of LPL Financial by 3,650.0% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 75 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. boosted its position in shares of LPL Financial by 550.0% in the fourth quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 78 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the period. Core Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Pinpoint Asset Management Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the fourth quarter worth approximately $50,000. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.01, for a total value of $366,311.10. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 19,803 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,535,188.03. This represents a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on LPLA shares. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Monday, April 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $396.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $447.00 to $374.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $398.86.

LPL Financial Price Performance

LPLA stock opened at $304.50 on Thursday. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $260.15 and a 52 week high of $403.58. The company has a quick ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $302.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $328.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.50.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.49 by $0.11. LPL Financial had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 31.26%. The business had revenue of $4.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.98 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.15 earnings per share. LPL Financial's quarterly revenue was up 34.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 22.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. LPL Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.71%.

LPL Financial Profile

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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