LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Shares Bought by Principal Securities Inc.

Principal Securities Inc. lifted its stake in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 9.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $343,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in LPL Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the third quarter valued at $43,000. Compass Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in LPL Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in LPL Financial during the 4th quarter worth $78,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in LPL Financial by 32.3% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 385 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $90,000 after buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LPLA. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on LPL Financial from $379.00 to $413.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays lifted their price objective on LPL Financial from $389.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen upgraded LPL Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $277.00 to $413.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of LPL Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 9th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $379.17.

LPL Financial Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ LPLA opened at $371.93 on Friday. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $187.19 and a 12-month high of $384.04. The company has a market cap of $27.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a current ratio of 2.16, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $348.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $290.33.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.01 by $0.24. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 49.41% and a net margin of 8.55%. Equities research analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling at LPL Financial

In other news, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 28,777 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $365.14, for a total value of $10,507,633.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,988,907.82. This represents a 67.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 305 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.94, for a total value of $101,241.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,920 shares in the company, valued at $1,301,204.80. This represents a 7.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

LPL Financial Profile

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.