Railway Pension Investments Ltd Increases Position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Key Points

• Railway Pension Investments Ltd boosted its LPL Financial stake by 22.5% in the fourth quarter, adding 81,880 shares for a total of 445,280 shares valued at about $159 million.
• LPL Financial recently beat earnings expectations with quarterly EPS of $5.60 versus the $5.49 estimate, while revenue rose 34.6% year over year to $4.94 billion.
• Analysts remain generally positive on the stock, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $398.86, even though the shares were trading at $273.77 at the time of the report.

Railway Pension Investments Ltd increased its stake in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA - Free Report) by 22.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 445,280 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 81,880 shares during the period. LPL Financial comprises approximately 1.9% of Railway Pension Investments Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Railway Pension Investments Ltd owned about 0.56% of LPL Financial worth $159,041,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in LPL Financial by 4.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,303,768 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,762,581,000 after acquiring an additional 317,002 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in 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 worth $1,328,475,000 after acquiring an additional 477,094 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox grew its position in LPL Financial by 23.2% in the third quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 3,329,255 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,107,610,000 after acquiring an additional 627,546 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in LPL Financial by 15,960.1% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,628,551 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $874,493,000 after acquiring an additional 2,612,184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC grew its position in LPL Financial by 20.5% in the third quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC now owns 2,255,714 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $750,453,000 after acquiring an additional 383,466 shares in the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on LPLA. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods began coverage on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $350.00 price target for the company. Citigroup reissued a "market outperform" rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $369.00 to $412.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $330.00 to $326.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $464.00 to $383.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $398.86.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

LPL Financial stock opened at $273.77 on Friday. 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 market capitalization of $21.90 billion, a PE ratio of 24.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.57. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $304.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $335.18. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $260.15 and a twelve month high of $403.58.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $4.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.98 billion. LPL Financial had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 31.26%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 34.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.15 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 22.98 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. LPL Financial's payout ratio is currently 10.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other LPL Financial news, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 19,803 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,535,188.03. This represents a 5.31% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 2,212 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.75, for a total value of $682,955.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,488 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,694,420. The trade was a 28.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 4,879 shares of company stock valued at $1,538,826 in the last ninety days. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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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