BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Sells 1,795 Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lowered its stake in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 12.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,795 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $2,900,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Maverick Capital Ltd. boosted its stake in LPL Financial by 82.0% in the third quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 497,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $115,635,000 after acquiring an additional 223,931 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP boosted its position in shares of LPL Financial by 90.2% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP now owns 37,276 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,672,000 after purchasing an additional 17,676 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec purchased a new stake in LPL Financial in the third quarter valued at about $14,447,000. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of LPL Financial by 50.0% during the third quarter. Southpoint Capital Advisors LP now owns 750,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $174,472,000 after acquiring an additional 250,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 1,174.1% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 197,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,964,000 after acquiring an additional 182,076 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on LPLA. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $310.00 target price on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $215.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on LPL Financial from $309.00 to $282.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on LPL Financial from $271.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded LPL Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $235.00 to $285.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, LPL Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $290.83.

LPL Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ:LPLA opened at $326.91 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 2.16 and a quick ratio of 2.16. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $280.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $256.32. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $187.19 and a 1-year high of $330.72. The firm has a market cap of $24.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.86.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. LPL Financial had a net margin of 8.73% and a return on equity of 49.47%. The company had revenue of $3.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.74 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 16.1 EPS for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.37%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.