DGS Capital Management LLC Cuts Position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA)

DGS Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 54 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $360,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 9.9% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $124,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its position in LPL Financial by 13.6% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 417 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $99,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in LPL Financial by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 496 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $118,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in LPL Financial by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 2,588 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $563,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Finally, Lido Advisors LLC raised its holdings in LPL Financial by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 1,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $443,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at LPL Financial

In related news, CEO Dan H. Arnold sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.35, for a total value of $2,563,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 137,044 shares in the company, valued at $35,131,229.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other LPL Financial news, CEO Dan H. Arnold sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.35, for a total value of $2,563,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 137,044 shares in the company, valued at $35,131,229.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Dan H. Arnold sold 34,807 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.54, for a total value of $9,277,457.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 141,810 shares in the company, valued at $37,798,037.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 60,151 shares of company stock worth $15,911,088 over the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LPLA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on LPL Financial from $254.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on LPL Financial from $266.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price on LPL Financial from $302.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley raised LPL Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $254.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Raymond James started coverage on LPL Financial in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. They issued an “underperform” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, LPL Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $268.36.

LPL Financial Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of LPL Financial stock opened at $260.11 on Wednesday. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12-month low of $179.00 and a 12-month high of $274.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.06, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $261.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $240.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The financial services provider reported $3.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.33 by $0.18. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 57.68% and a net margin of 10.61%. The company had revenue of $2.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.55 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.21 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 15.55 earnings per share for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 12th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 11th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.79%.

About LPL Financial

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.