Merit Financial Group LLC Acquires 50 Shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA)

Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $370,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in shares of LPL Financial by 50.6% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 15,841 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,685,000 after acquiring an additional 5,320 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in LPL Financial in the third quarter valued at about $2,633,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in LPL Financial by 15.7% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 25,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,913,000 after purchasing an additional 3,444 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in LPL Financial by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 31,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,190,000 after purchasing an additional 1,383 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 27.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,275,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $296,635,000 after buying an additional 276,166 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on LPLA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of LPL Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $288.00 to $397.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of LPL Financial in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen upgraded LPL Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $277.00 to $413.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com upgraded LPL Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on LPL Financial from $303.00 to $309.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, LPL Financial presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $351.50.

Insider Transactions at LPL Financial

In other LPL Financial news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 305 shares of LPL Financial stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.94, for a total value of $101,241.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,301,204.80. The trade was a 7.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

LPL Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LPLA opened at $360.29 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $331.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $270.61. The stock has a market cap of $26.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.09, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.87. 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 Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $187.19 and a 12 month high of $361.63.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.69 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $3.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. LPL Financial had a net margin of 8.73% and a return on equity of 49.47%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.74 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 16.17 earnings per share for the current year.

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.