William Blair Weighs in on LPL Financial Holdings Inc.’s Q2 2024 Earnings (NASDAQ:LPLA)

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) – Equities research analysts at William Blair dropped their Q2 2024 EPS estimates for shares of LPL Financial in a report issued on Wednesday, April 10th. William Blair analyst J. Schmitt now forecasts that the financial services provider will post earnings of $3.89 per share for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $3.92. The consensus estimate for LPL Financial’s current full-year earnings is $15.55 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for LPL Financial’s Q3 2024 earnings at $3.75 EPS and FY2024 earnings at $15.75 EPS.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $3.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.33 by $0.18. LPL Financial had a net margin of 10.61% and a return on equity of 57.68%. The business had revenue of $2.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.21 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $266.00 to $269.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $260.00 to $267.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $254.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of LPL Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $254.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $302.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $268.36.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LPLA opened at $261.12 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $261.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $239.99. LPL Financial has a 52-week low of $179.00 and a 52-week high of $274.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company has a market cap of $19.51 billion, a PE ratio of 19.13, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.84.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 12th were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 11th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. LPL Financial’s payout ratio is currently 8.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at LPL Financial

In other LPL Financial news, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 5,574 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.52, for a total transaction of $1,485,582.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,641,462.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 5,574 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.52, for a total value of $1,485,582.48. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 13,663 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,641,462.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Matthew Enyedi sold 1,381 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.94, for a total transaction of $354,834.14. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 8,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,218,419.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 60,151 shares of company stock valued at $15,911,088. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of LPL Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of LPL Financial by 218,199.4% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 95,191,655 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,577,580,000 after buying an additional 95,148,049 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in LPL Financial by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,141,049 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,625,446,000 after acquiring an additional 48,439 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in LPL Financial by 4.0% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,542,756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,324,254,000 after purchasing an additional 250,448 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in LPL Financial by 7.5% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,574,135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $652,923,000 after purchasing an additional 248,255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of LPL Financial by 0.4% in the third quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 2,457,027 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $583,912,000 after acquiring an additional 10,182 shares in the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About LPL Financial

LPL Financial Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides an integrated platform of brokerage and investment advisory services to independent financial advisors and financial advisors at enterprises in the United States. Its brokerage offerings include variable and fixed annuities, mutual funds, equities, fixed income, alternative investments, retirement and 529 education savings plans, and insurance.