Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC Takes Position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA)

Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $461,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bamco Inc. NY grew its position in LPL Financial by 7.2% during the first quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 122,038 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,242,000 after buying an additional 8,184 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in LPL Financial during the first quarter valued at about $918,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in LPL Financial by 1,640.7% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $247,000 after buying an additional 886 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its position in LPL Financial by 19.8% during the first quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 927,369 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $245,011,000 after buying an additional 153,072 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in LPL Financial during the first quarter valued at about $320,000. Institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on LPLA. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $326.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of LPL Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $254.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $285.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. They set an “underperform” rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $283.30.

LPL Financial Price Performance

Shares of LPLA stock traded down $5.73 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $215.51. The stock had a trading volume of 1,126,099 shares, compared to its average volume of 675,438. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $268.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $262.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $200.18 and a 12 month high of $289.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.10 billion, a PE ratio of 16.71, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.90.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $3.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.66 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.89 billion. LPL Financial had a net margin of 8.91% and a return on equity of 54.38%. LPL Financial’s quarterly revenue was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.94 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 15.76 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 9th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.06%.

Insider Activity at LPL Financial

In related 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $39,546,624.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by 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.