Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Invests $424,000 in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. bought a new position in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,300 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $424,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of LPL Financial during the third quarter valued at $43,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in LPL Financial by 45.3% during the 4th 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. Atala Financial Inc acquired a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $65,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of LPL Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $78,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.66% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LPLA. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $435.00 price target on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $379.00 to $413.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of LPL Financial from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen raised shares of LPL Financial from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $277.00 to $413.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on LPL Financial from $389.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $379.17.

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LPL Financial Price Performance

LPLA traded down $3.39 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $339.15. The company's stock had a trading volume of 356,167 shares, compared to its average volume of 741,099. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.82. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a twelve month low of $187.19 and a twelve month high of $384.04. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $352.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $309.86. The company has a current ratio of 2.16, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.01 by $0.24. LPL Financial had a net margin of 8.55% and a return on equity of 49.41%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. LPL Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.55%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 4,588 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,954,837.66. The trade was a 21.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Marc Eliot Cohen sold 1,100 shares of the firm's 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 in the company, valued at $1,490,838.75. The trade was a 21.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 34,465 shares of company stock worth $12,562,070 in the last 90 days. 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.