Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Takes Position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. $LPLA

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 74,269 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $20,920,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in LPL Financial during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 period. Core Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in LPL Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 580.0% in the first quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinpoint Asset Management Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of LPL Financial during the 4th quarter worth $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at LPL Financial

In related news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 308 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,962,990. This represents a 4.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Matthew Enyedi sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $352.72, for a total value of $352,720.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 13,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,628,039.12. This represents a 7.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on LPL Financial from $365.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Thursday, June 4th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on LPL Financial from $300.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on LPL Financial from $394.00 to $401.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Twelve 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 a consensus price target of $406.69.

LPL Financial Price Performance

Shares of LPLA opened at $354.02 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $260.15 and a 52 week high of $400.16. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $325.27 and a 200-day moving average of $315.54. The firm has a market cap of $27.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.23, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.48.

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

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

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

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.