LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twelve research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $275.27.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LPLA. StockNews.com upgraded LPL Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America raised LPL Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $268.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on LPL Financial from $261.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Barclays dropped their price objective on LPL Financial from $313.00 to $273.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Thursday. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $235.00 target price for the company.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

Shares of LPLA stock opened at $206.98 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.88. LPL Financial has a 1-year low of $187.19 and a 1-year high of $289.88. The company has a current ratio of 2.16, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $224.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $254.53.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $3.66 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.89 billion. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 52.14% and a net margin of 8.91%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.94 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that LPL Financial will post 15.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.06%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LPLA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 48,439 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 233,242 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its holdings in LPL Financial by 71.9% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,765,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $466,434,000 after acquiring an additional 738,509 shares in the last quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of LPL Financial by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC now owns 1,194,715 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $333,684,000 after acquiring an additional 88,635 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 33.2% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,103,655 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $291,586,000 after purchasing an additional 275,286 shares in the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.