LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA Shares Acquired by Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD

Key Points

• Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in LPL Financial by 6.3% in Q1, now owning approximately 0.35% of the company, valued at $91.55 million.
• Several institutional investors have significantly increased their stakes in LPL Financial recently, with a total of 95.66% of the company's stock now owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
• LPL Financial reported an EPS of $4.51 for Q2, surpassing analysts' estimates, while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.30, payable on August 29th.

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA - Free Report) by 6.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 279,850 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 16,582 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned approximately 0.35% of LPL Financial worth $91,551,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Activity at LPL Financial

In related news, Director Greg Gates sold 1,500 shares of the 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 transaction, the director directly 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LPLA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic raised LPL Financial from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $420.00 to $460.00 in a report on Monday, June 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on LPL Financial from $402.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on LPL Financial from $425.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $490.00 target price (up previously from $450.00) on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, JMP Securities upped their target price on LPL Financial from $420.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Ten equities research 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 has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $383.58.

LPL Financial Stock Down 0.6%

LPLA opened at $360.43 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.22, a current ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The firm has a market cap of $28.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.65, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.66. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $204.41 and a 52 week high of $403.58. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $373.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $355.51.

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

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. LPL Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.21%.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LPLA? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.