LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) Plans $0.30 Quarterly Dividend

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 30th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of 0.30 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, March 25th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%.

LPL Financial has increased its dividend by an average of 6.3% per year over the last three years. LPL Financial has a payout ratio of 5.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect LPL Financial to earn $19.41 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 6.2%.

LPL Financial Price Performance

Shares of LPLA stock traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $361.80. The company had a trading volume of 1,162,390 shares, compared to its average volume of 548,841. LPL Financial has a 52-week low of $187.19 and a 52-week high of $366.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $334.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $272.49. 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 market capitalization of $27.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.87.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.69 by $0.47. LPL Financial had a net margin of 8.73% and a return on equity of 49.47%. The firm had revenue of $3.11 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.74 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that LPL Financial will post 16.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of LPL Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $271.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of LPL Financial from $303.00 to $309.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of LPL Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $277.00 to $413.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of LPL Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $288.00 to $397.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, LPL Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $351.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at LPL Financial

In other news, Director Aneri Jambusaria sold 305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.94, for a total value of $101,241.70. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,301,204.80. This represents a 7.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

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.