MONECO Advisors LLC Sells 318 Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA)

MONECO Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 14.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 318 shares during the period. MONECO Advisors LLC’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $605,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in LPL Financial by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 21,035 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,883,000 after purchasing an additional 941 shares during the last quarter. Lynwood Price Capital Management LP boosted its stake in LPL Financial by 47.9% during the 1st quarter. Lynwood Price Capital Management LP now owns 52,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,175,000 after purchasing an additional 17,000 shares during the last quarter. EFG Asset Management Americas Corp. acquired a new position in LPL Financial during the 1st quarter valued at about $787,000. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in LPL Financial by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 60,392 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,757,000 after purchasing an additional 5,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors boosted its stake in LPL Financial by 16.4% during the 1st quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 986 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on LPLA. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on LPL Financial from $402.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded LPL Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 14th. Citigroup downgraded LPL Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. JMP Securities boosted their target price on LPL Financial from $420.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $490.00 target price (up previously from $450.00) on shares of LPL Financial in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, LPL Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $381.08.

Insider Activity

In other LPL Financial news, Director Greg Gates sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $382.63, for a total transaction of $573,945.00. Following the sale, the director owned 20,620 shares in the company, valued at $7,889,830.60. This represents a 6.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

LPL Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LPLA opened at $369.91 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $378.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $354.92. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a 1-year low of $187.19 and a 1-year high of $403.58. The firm has a market cap of $29.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.21 by $0.30. LPL Financial had a return on equity of 47.01% and a net margin of 7.91%. The business had revenue of $3.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.88 earnings per share. LPL Financial’s revenue was up 30.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 19.35 earnings per share for the current year.

LPL Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.21%.

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.