Moore Capital Management LP Makes New Investment in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Key Points

• Moore Capital Management disclosed a new position in LPL Financial, buying 67,008 shares valued at about $23.9 million in the fourth quarter.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with hedge funds and other institutional investors holding about 95.66% of LPL Financial shares; several other firms also added or initiated positions.
• LPL Financial reported better-than-expected earnings of $5.60 per share for the quarter, and analysts currently maintain a Moderate Buy consensus with an average price target of $398.86.

Moore Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 67,008 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $23,933,000. Moore Capital Management LP owned approximately 0.08% of LPL Financial at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Egerton Capital UK LLP purchased a new stake in shares of LPL Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $91,012,000. Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich purchased a new stake in shares of LPL Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,975,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of LPL Financial by 14.7% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 477,094 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of LPL Financial by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 77,992 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $28,204,000 after purchasing an additional 5,179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of LPL Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,583,000. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at LPL Financial

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target 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. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Thursday, June 4th. UBS Group increased their price objective on LPL Financial from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on LPL Financial from $330.00 to $326.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on LPL Financial from $369.00 to $412.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $398.86.

LPL Financial Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of LPL Financial stock opened at $304.50 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.19, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.50. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $260.15 and a fifty-two week high of $403.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a current ratio of 2.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $302.25 and a 200 day moving average of $328.52.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $5.49 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $4.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.98 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 31.26% and a net margin of 4.93%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 34.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.15 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 22.98 earnings per share for the current year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

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

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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