LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus on LPL Financial, with 12 buy ratings and four holds among 16 firms. The average 12-month price target is approximately $406.69, above the reported $374.96 share price.
• LPL Financial beat quarterly expectations, reporting $5.84 in adjusted earnings per share versus the $5.39 consensus and $5.19 billion in revenue, up 35.2% year over year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, equivalent to a 0.3% annualized yield, while institutional investors own approximately 95.66% of outstanding shares.

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the sixteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $406.6923.

LPLA has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research restated an "outperform" rating and set a $454.00 price objective on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen upped their target price on LPL Financial from $330.00 to $372.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on LPL Financial from $300.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $374.00 to $387.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LPLA opened at $374.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 2.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $317.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $315.52. The stock has a market cap of $29.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.90, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.48. LPL Financial has a 1-year low of $260.15 and a 1-year high of $400.16.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA - Get Free Report) last announced 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. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 32.20% and a net margin of 5.13%.The company had revenue of $5.19 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $4.51 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 35.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that LPL Financial will post 24.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. LPL Financial's dividend payout ratio is 9.57%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Matthew Enyedi sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $352.72, for a total value of $352,720.00. Following the sale, the director owned 13,121 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,628,039.12. This represents a 7.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.00, for a total transaction of $94,248.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,415 shares in the company, valued at $1,962,990. The trade was a 4.58% decrease in their position. 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. 0.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of LPL Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,333,189,000. Dodge & Cox boosted its holdings in LPL Financial by 18.6% in 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 increased 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 valued at $1,103,079,000 after purchasing an additional 289,227 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in LPL Financial by 37.9% during the fourth 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. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of LPL Financial by 36.3% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,636,544 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $793,163,000 after buying an additional 702,061 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.66% of the company's stock.

LPL Financial Company 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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