LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report released on Monday.

LPLA has been the subject of several other research reports. TD Cowen upgraded shares of LPL Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $277.00 to $413.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $389.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $390.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $310.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $379.17.

LPL Financial Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ:LPLA opened at $326.30 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 2.16 and a current ratio of 2.16. The firm has a market cap of $24.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.82. LPL Financial has a 52 week low of $187.19 and a 52 week high of $384.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $352.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $305.72.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts expect that LPL Financial will post 19.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at LPL Financial

In other LPL Financial news, 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 directly owns 4,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,490,838.75. This trade represents a 21.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Matthew J. Audette sold 28,777 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $365.14, for a total transaction of $10,507,633.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 13,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,988,907.82. The trade was a 67.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 34,465 shares of company stock valued at $12,562,070 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of LPL Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 26.0% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,905,541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,278,454,000 after acquiring an additional 805,637 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 24.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,322,571 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $772,930,000 after acquiring an additional 650,675 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 20.6% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,050,529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $996,032,000 after acquiring an additional 522,032 shares during the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 2,660,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $868,757,000 after acquiring an additional 57,485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,459,942 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $475,946,000 after acquiring an additional 23,111 shares during the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.