Insider Selling: LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) Director Sells $1,463,810.22 in Stock

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Director Greg Gates sold 4,119 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.38, for a total transaction of $1,463,810.22. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 23,602 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,387,678.76. The trade was a 14.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

LPL Financial Price Performance

LPL Financial stock opened at $361.35 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $326.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $315.44. The company has a quick ratio of 2.39, a current ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market cap of $28.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.48. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $260.15 and a twelve month high of $400.16.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The financial services provider reported $5.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.39 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $5.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.04 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 32.20% and a net margin of 5.13%.The business’s revenue was up 35.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.51 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 24.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of LPL Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 42.7% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,153,000 after purchasing an additional 1,055 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in LPL Financial by 0.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 209,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $68,414,000 after buying an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP purchased a new stake in LPL Financial in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,636,000. Focus Partners Wealth increased its holdings in LPL Financial by 12.2% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 4,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,426,000 after buying an additional 473 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in LPL Financial in the 1st quarter worth approximately $121,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $394.00 to $401.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $454.00 price objective on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $408.00 to $428.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $300.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $406.69.

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.