LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Shares Sold by AQR Capital Management LLC

AQR Capital Management LLC reduced its position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 43,901 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,999 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.06% of LPL Financial worth $12,150,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Partners increased its stake in LPL Financial by 71.9% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,765,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $466,434,000 after acquiring an additional 738,509 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its position in LPL Financial by 89.0% during the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 774,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $176,245,000 after purchasing an additional 364,597 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in LPL Financial by 33.2% during 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 buying an additional 275,286 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its position 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 buying an additional 233,242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co. LLC grew its stake in LPL Financial by 12,785.9% during the fourth quarter. Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co. LLC now owns 234,524 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $53,382,000 after buying an additional 232,704 shares during the period. 95.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on LPLA. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $313.00 to $273.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on LPL Financial in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $235.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com lowered LPL Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on LPL Financial from $322.00 to $334.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on LPL Financial from $243.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, LPL Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $275.69.

LPL Financial Trading Down 1.2 %

NASDAQ LPLA opened at $229.85 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $216.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $250.12. The company has a market capitalization of $17.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.88. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $187.19 and a 12 month high of $289.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 2.16 and a quick ratio of 2.16.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $3.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.66 by $0.22. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 52.14% and a net margin of 8.91%. The business had revenue of $2.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.89 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.94 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 15.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.