King Luther Capital Management Corp Buys 918 Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA)

King Luther Capital Management Corp raised its stake in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 15.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,778 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 918 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $1,577,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in LPL Financial by 533.8% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 5,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,359,000 after buying an additional 4,340 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 83.3% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $291,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of LPL Financial by 52.3% during the first quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,217 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $586,000 after purchasing an additional 761 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in LPL Financial in the first quarter worth $1,619,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in LPL Financial by 1,640.7% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 886 shares during the period. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $309.00 to $282.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on LPL Financial from $303.00 to $309.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on LPL Financial from $326.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price target on LPL Financial from $271.00 to $277.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, LPL Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $286.92.

LPL Financial Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LPLA opened at $326.85 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The firm has a market cap of $24.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.85. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $187.19 and a 12 month high of $327.55. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $260.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $252.81.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.69 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $3.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. LPL Financial had a net margin of 8.73% and a return on equity of 49.47%. LPL Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.74 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 16.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 9.02%.

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.