Natixis Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Natixis Advisors LLC cut its stake in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 27.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,834 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 15,108 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.05% of LPL Financial worth $14,585,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LPLA. Capital World Investors increased its position in LPL Financial by 15,960.1% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,628,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $874,493,000 after acquiring an additional 2,612,184 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in LPL Financial by 27,955.5% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 1,141,019 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $407,538,000 after acquiring an additional 1,136,952 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in LPL Financial during the fourth quarter valued at $371,616,000. Dodge & Cox increased its position in LPL Financial by 23.2% during the third quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 3,329,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,107,610,000 after acquiring an additional 627,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in LPL Financial by 14.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 477,094 shares during the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 2,212 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.75, for a total transaction of $682,955.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 5,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,694,420. This represents a 28.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 1,110 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.01, for a total value of $366,311.10. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 19,803 shares in the company, valued at $6,535,188.03. The trade was a 5.31% 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. Insiders have sold a total of 4,879 shares of company stock worth $1,538,826 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

LPLA stock opened at $288.49 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $302.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $331.95. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $260.15 and a twelve month high of $403.58. The firm has a market cap of $23.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.76, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.50.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.49 by $0.11. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 31.26% and a net margin of 4.93%.The business had revenue of $4.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.98 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 34.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 22.98 earnings per share for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on LPLA shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $369.00 to $412.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $464.00 to $383.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 6th. 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. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, LPL Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $398.86.

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.