LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• LPL Financial has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy”, with 11 buy ratings, 1 strong buy, and 4 holds among 16 covering firms. The average 12-month price target is about $398.86.
• The company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, posting $5.60 per share versus estimates of $5.49, while revenue came in at $4.94 billion, slightly below expectations. Revenue still rose 34.6% year over year.
• LPL Financial also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, which annualizes to $1.20 and yields about 0.4%. Insider selling was noted, including transactions by the CFO and a director under pre-arranged trading plans.

Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the sixteen research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $398.8571.

Several equities analysts have commented on LPLA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $396.00 to $390.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Monday, April 27th. 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods started coverage on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $350.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $464.00 to $383.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 6th.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

LPLA opened at $282.15 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.19, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a fifty day moving average of $300.36 and a 200 day moving average of $326.15. LPL Financial 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.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.49 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $4.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.98 billion. LPL Financial had a net margin of 4.93% and a return on equity of 31.26%. LPL Financial's quarterly revenue was up 34.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.15 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that LPL Financial will post 22.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at LPL Financial

In other LPL Financial news, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were 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 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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 on Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.00, for a total transaction of $94,248.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,415 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,962,990. This trade represents a 4.58% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 1,887 shares of company stock valued at $613,144 in the last quarter. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On LPL Financial

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LPLA. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of LPL Financial in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 3,650.0% in the 4th quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 75 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 550.0% in the 4th quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 78 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of LPL Financial in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 580.0% in the 1st quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 136 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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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