LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA Shares Purchased by California State Teachers Retirement System

California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA - Free Report) by 29,129.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 34,308,342 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 34,190,966 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 43.57% of LPL Financial worth $9,663,974,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of LPL Financial during the 2nd quarter worth $1,333,189,000. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in LPL Financial during the second quarter worth about $1,182,595,000. Dodge & Cox raised its stake in LPL Financial by 18.6% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 3,948,970 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,410,454,000 after purchasing an additional 619,715 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in LPL Financial by 8.6% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,666,780 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,103,079,000 after purchasing an additional 289,227 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in LPL Financial by 37.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,625,357 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,294,869,000 after purchasing an additional 996,806 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.66% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LPLA. Wolfe Research restated an "outperform" rating and set a $454.00 price target on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on LPL Financial from $372.00 to $377.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. UBS Group lowered their price objective on LPL Financial from $395.00 to $391.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on LPL Financial from $408.00 to $428.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on LPL Financial from $300.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $405.79.

Insider Activity at LPL Financial

In related news, Director Greg Gates sold 4,119 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.38, for a total value of $1,463,810.22. Following the sale, the director owned 23,602 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,387,678.76. The trade was a 14.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $357.36, for a total value of $110,066.88. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,107 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,182,397.52. The trade was a 4.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 5,735 shares of company stock worth $2,020,845. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

Shares of LPLA stock opened at $350.22 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 2.39 and a current ratio of 2.39. The firm has a market cap of $27.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.48. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $343.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $315.79. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $260.15 and a one year high of $400.16.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.39 by $0.45. The firm had revenue of $5.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.04 billion. LPL Financial had a net margin of 5.13% and a return on equity of 32.20%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 35.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $4.51 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 24.06 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. LPL Financial's payout ratio is presently 9.57%.

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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