State Street Corp Sells 25,879 Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA)

State Street Corp decreased its stake in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,677,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 25,879 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned 2.24% of LPL Financial worth $390,142,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LPLA. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in LPL Financial by 50.6% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 15,841 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,685,000 after purchasing an additional 5,320 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the third quarter valued at $2,633,000. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 5.4% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 394,091 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $110,070,000 after buying an additional 20,123 shares in the last quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. increased its holdings in LPL Financial by 68.2% during the third quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 217,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $50,586,000 after buying an additional 88,196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in LPL Financial by 882.4% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 85,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,996,000 after acquiring an additional 77,169 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other LPL Financial news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 305 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.94, for a total transaction of $101,241.70. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

LPL Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ:LPLA opened at $320.50 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.16. The firm has a market cap of $24.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.86. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 52 week low of $187.19 and a 52 week high of $332.91. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $286.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $257.36.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.69 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $3.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. LPL Financial had a net margin of 8.73% and a return on equity of 49.47%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.74 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 16.1 earnings per share for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LPLA. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $271.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. UBS Group upped their price objective on LPL Financial from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com raised LPL Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised LPL Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $235.00 to $285.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on LPL Financial from $271.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $296.42.

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.