Dodge & Cox Purchases 454,553 Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA)

Dodge & Cox grew its stake in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA - Free Report) by 2,922.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 470,109 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 454,553 shares during the quarter. Dodge & Cox owned about 0.63% of LPL Financial worth $153,495,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LPLA. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its stake in LPL Financial by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 9,697 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,166,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance grew its holdings in LPL Financial by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 1,483 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $484,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Sanchez Wealth Management Group increased its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Sanchez Wealth Management Group now owns 1,686 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $551,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 916 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tyler Stone Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 1,076 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $351,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other LPL Financial news, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 1,100 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.85, for a total value of $402,435.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,490,838.75. This represents a 21.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 4,588 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.07, for a total transaction of $1,652,001.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 16,538 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,954,837.66. This trade represents a 21.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 34,465 shares of company stock valued at $12,562,070 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on LPL Financial from $397.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. JMP Securities dropped their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $435.00 to $420.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $405.00 to $342.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on LPL Financial from $390.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on LPL Financial from $379.00 to $413.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $369.83.

LPL Financial Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of LPL Financial stock traded down $0.02 on Friday, reaching $306.02. The company had a trading volume of 413,918 shares, compared to its average volume of 822,178. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $335.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $320.55. The firm has a market cap of $24.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.64. 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 1 year low of $187.19 and a 1 year high of $384.04.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.39%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. LPL Financial's payout ratio is presently 8.55%.

LPL Financial Company 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.