LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA Stock Holdings Boosted by Legal & General Group Plc

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in LPL Financial by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, bringing its holdings to 368,301 shares worth about $131.5 million. Several other institutional investors also raised their positions, and institutions now own 95.66% of the stock.
• LPL Financial reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings of $5.60 per share, topping estimates, while revenue rose 34.6% year over year to $4.94 billion. The company also guided to continued strong profitability, with analysts projecting full-year EPS of 22.98.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, payable June 4, and analysts remain generally positive with a consensus Moderate Buy rating and an average price target of $398.86. However, shares were trading well below recent highs, and some analysts trimmed their price targets.

Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA - Free Report) by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 368,301 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 32,932 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.46% of LPL Financial worth $131,546,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LPLA. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in 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 valued at $874,493,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,184 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in 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 valued at $407,538,000 after purchasing an additional 1,136,952 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox lifted its position 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 valued at $1,107,610,000 after acquiring an additional 627,546 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position 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 valued at $1,328,475,000 after acquiring an additional 477,094 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of LPL Financial by 20.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,255,714 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $750,453,000 after acquiring an additional 383,466 shares during the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other LPL Financial news, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 2,212 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.75, for a total transaction of $682,955.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,488 shares in the company, valued at $1,694,420. This trade represents a 28.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.01, for a total value of $366,311.10. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 19,803 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,535,188.03. This trade represents a 5.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 4,879 shares of company stock worth $1,538,826. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company's stock.

LPL Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LPLA opened at $265.86 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.56, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 1 year low of $260.15 and a 1 year high of $403.58. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $304.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $335.62. The firm has a market cap of $21.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.57.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $4.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.98 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.15 earnings per share. LPL Financial's quarterly revenue was up 34.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 22.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. LPL Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on LPL Financial from $464.00 to $383.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 6th. UBS Group increased their price objective on LPL Financial from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Citizens Jmp reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $500.00 price objective on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Wolfe Research set a $478.00 price objective on LPL Financial in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on LPL Financial from $396.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, LPL Financial has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $398.86.

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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