LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) Stock Price Down 2.5% Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) dropped 2.5% during trading on Thursday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $319.00 to $313.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. LPL Financial traded as low as $264.80 and last traded at $266.03. Approximately 30,721 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 94% from the average daily volume of 520,452 shares. The stock had previously closed at $272.94.

LPLA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $254.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. 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. UBS Group boosted their price target on LPL Financial from $285.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $305.00 price target on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $285.20.

Insider Transactions at LPL Financial

In other news, CEO Dan H. Arnold sold 5,677 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.31, for a total transaction of $1,574,288.87. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 142,608 shares in the company, valued at $39,546,624.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of LPL Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 0.7% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in LPL Financial by 71.9% in the first 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 during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in LPL Financial by 33.2% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,103,655 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $291,586,000 after acquiring an additional 275,286 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in LPL Financial by 2.5% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 970,749 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $256,472,000 after acquiring an additional 23,890 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in LPL Financial by 19.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 153,072 shares during the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

LPL Financial Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of $276.53 and a 200 day moving average of $261.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.03, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.70, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.44. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 55.22% and a net margin of 9.71%. The business had revenue of $2.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.68 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 15.85 earnings per share for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 4th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 21st were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 20th. LPL Financial’s payout ratio is presently 9.06%.

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.