LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) Stock Price Up 7.6%

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA)’s stock price rose 7.6% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $218.56 and last traded at $214.41. Approximately 74,910 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 702,792 shares. The stock had previously closed at $199.34.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LPLA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America upgraded LPL Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $268.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on LPL Financial from $326.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $313.00 to $273.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, LPL Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $279.30.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 2.16. The company has a market cap of $16.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $247.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $258.65.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.66 by $0.22. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 52.14% and a net margin of 8.91%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.94 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 15.9 earnings per share for the current year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th will be given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.06%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Dan H. Arnold sold 5,677 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.31, for a total value of $1,574,288.87. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 142,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,546,624.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in LPL Financial by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,141,049 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,625,446,000 after acquiring an additional 48,439 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 9.9% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 2,589,793 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $723,329,000 after purchasing an additional 233,242 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 71.9% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,765,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $466,434,000 after purchasing an additional 738,509 shares during the last quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 8.0% during the second quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC now owns 1,194,715 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $333,684,000 after purchasing an additional 88,635 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 33.2% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,103,655 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $291,586,000 after buying an additional 275,286 shares during the period. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

LPL Financial Company 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.