Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 279 Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its holdings in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,974 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 279 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $1,298,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wealth Alliance raised its stake in LPL Financial by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 1,483 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $484,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Sanchez Wealth Management Group raised its stake in LPL Financial by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Sanchez Wealth Management Group now owns 1,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $551,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in LPL Financial by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $299,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in shares of LPL Financial by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $441,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in shares of LPL Financial by 45.3% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 138 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on LPLA. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on LPL Financial from $379.00 to $413.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $435.00 target price on shares of LPL Financial in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen raised LPL Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $277.00 to $413.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com downgraded LPL Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on LPL Financial from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $379.17.

LPL Financial Stock Down 2.0 %

NASDAQ LPLA opened at $327.90 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $351.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $307.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 2.16 and a quick ratio of 2.16. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $187.19 and a fifty-two week high of $384.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.49 billion, a PE ratio of 23.35, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.82.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.01 by $0.24. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 49.41% and a net margin of 8.55%. Equities analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. LPL Financial’s payout ratio is presently 8.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 4,588 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.07, for a total value of $1,652,001.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,954,837.66. This represents a 21.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $365.85, for a total value of $402,435.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,490,838.75. The trade was a 21.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 34,465 shares of company stock worth $12,562,070 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

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.