Bridges Investment Management Inc. Buys Shares of 1,148 LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA)

Bridges Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $321,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 38.8% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 41,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,057,000 after purchasing an additional 11,703 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 533.8% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 5,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 4,340 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of LPL Financial during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,648,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 23.4% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 113,254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,923,000 after purchasing an additional 21,481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 394,091 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $110,070,000 after purchasing an additional 20,123 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on LPLA. Bank of America upgraded LPL Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $268.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on LPL Financial from $322.00 to $334.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. StockNews.com upgraded LPL Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. UBS Group cut their target price on LPL Financial from $290.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on LPL Financial from $313.00 to $273.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $275.27.

LPL Financial Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of LPLA opened at $215.52 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $16.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.28, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.88. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 52-week low of $187.19 and a 52-week high of $289.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.16. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $216.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $251.69.

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

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. LPL Financial’s payout ratio is currently 9.06%.

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.