Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 5,244 Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund reduced its position in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 26.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,244 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $4,293,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of LPL Financial during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. raised its position in 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 buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Core Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in LPL Financial in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in LPL Financial by 580.0% during the 1st quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LPLA. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $395.00 to $391.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $412.00 to $394.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $330.00 to $326.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $374.00 to $387.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Monday, April 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $397.92.

LPL Financial Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:LPLA opened at $324.90 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.01, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a current ratio of 2.56. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $293.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $318.30. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $260.15 and a 52-week high of $403.58.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.15 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 34.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 23.38 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 payout ratio is presently 10.71%.

Insider Transactions at LPL Financial

In other LPL Financial news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 6,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,962,990. The trade was a 4.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 0.60% of the company’s stock.

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.