How to buy LPL Financial stock | $116.8

LPL Financial Holdings Inc is a capital markets business based in the US. LPL Financial shares (LPLA) are listed on the NASDAQ and all prices are listed in US Dollars. LPL Financial employs 4,504 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$5.7 billion.

How to buy shares in LPL Financial

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for LPL Financial. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: LPLA. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until LPL Financial reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$116.8, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of LPL Financial, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of LPL Financial. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

LPL Financial share price

Use our graph to track the performance of LPLA stocks over time.

LPL Financial shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2021-01-11.

Latest market close	USD$116.8
52-week range	USD$31.7127 - USD$117.47
50-day moving average	USD$100.7669
200-day moving average	USD$85.2588
Wall St. target price	USD$120.64
PE ratio	19.3795
Dividend yield	USD$1 (0.87%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$6.027

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Is it a good time to buy LPL Financial stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of LPL Financial Holdings Inc by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

LPL Financial price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $116.8 from 2021-01-11

1 week (2021-01-07)	4.18%
1 month (2020-12-16)	14.46%
3 months (2020-10-16)	39.80%
6 months (2020-07-16)	49.38%

1 year (2020-01-16)	18.15%
2 years (2019-01-16)	67.99%
3 years (2018-01-16)	94.96%
5 years (2016-01-15)	236.21%

Is LPL Financial under- or over-valued?

Valuing LPL Financial stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of LPL Financial's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

LPL Financial's P/E ratio

LPL Financial's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 19x. In other words, LPL Financial shares trade at around 19x recent earnings.

That's relatively low compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The low P/E ratio could mean that investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're under-valued.

LPL Financial's PEG ratio

LPL Financial's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 3.0077. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into LPL Financial's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

LPL Financial's EBITDA

LPL Financial's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$934 million.

The EBITDA is a measure of a LPL Financial's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

LPL Financial financials

Revenue TTM	USD$5.7 billion
Operating margin TTM	13.25%
Gross profit TTM	USD$1.6 billion
Return on assets TTM	8.04%
Return on equity TTM	43.8%
Profit margin	8.5%
Book value	$15.232
Market capitalisation	USD$9.3 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting LPL Financial shares

There are currently 1.5 million LPL Financial shares held short by investors – that's known as LPL Financial's "short interest". This figure is 47.9% up from 981,006 last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting LPL Financial shares can be evaluated.

LPL Financial's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

LPL Financial's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of LPL Financial shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of LPL Financial shares traded daily (recently around 609814.28571429). LPL Financial's SIR currently stands at 2.38. In other words for every 100,000 LPL Financial shares traded daily on the market, roughly 2380 shares are currently held short.

However LPL Financial's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of LPL Financial shares, or, against the total number of tradable LPL Financial shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case LPL Financial's short interest could be expressed as 0.02% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 LPL Financial shares in existence, roughly 20 shares are currently held short) or 0.0243% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable LPL Financial shares, roughly 24 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against LPL Financial.

Find out more about how you can short LPL Financial stock.

LPL Financial share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 16.64% of net profits

Recently LPL Financial has paid out, on average, around 16.64% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 0.87% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), LPL Financial shareholders could enjoy a 0.87% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In LPL Financial's case, that would currently equate to about $1 per share.

While LPL Financial's payout ratio might seem low, this can signify that LPL Financial is investing more in its future growth.

LPL Financial's most recent dividend payout was on 30 November 2020. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 10 November 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").

LPL Financial share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, LPL Financial's shares have ranged in value from as little as $31.7127 up to $117.47. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NASDAQ average) beta is 1, while LPL Financial's is 1.4842. This would suggest that LPL Financial's shares are more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent, relatively-speaking, a higher risk (but potentially also market-beating returns).

LPL Financial overview

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 financial institutions in the United States. Its brokerage offerings include variable and fixed annuities, mutual funds, equities, retirement and education savings plans, fixed income, and insurance, as well as alternative investments, such as non-traded real estate investment trusts and business development companies. The company also provides advisory platforms that provide access to mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, stocks, bonds, certain option strategies, unit investment trusts, and institutional money managers and no-load multi-manager variable annuities. In addition, it offers cash sweep programs; and retirement solutions for commission-and fee-based services that allow advisors to provide brokerage services, consultation, and advice to retirement plan sponsors. Further, the company provides other services comprising tools and services that enable advisors to maintain and grow their practices; trust, investment management oversight, and custodial services to trusts for estates and families, as well as insurance brokerage general agency services; and technology products, such as proposal generation, investment analytics, and portfolio modeling. The company was formerly known as LPL Investment Holdings Inc. and changed its name to LPL Financial Holdings Inc. in June 2012. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. was founded in 1989 and is based in San Diego, California.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of LPL Financial is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.785% of LPL Financial shares are held by insiders and 98.707% by institutions.

• How many people work for LPL Financial?

  Latest data suggests 4,504 work at LPL Financial.

• When does the fiscal year end for LPL Financial?

  LPL Financial's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is LPL Financial based?

  LPL Financial's address is: 4707 Executive Drive, San Diego, CA, United States, 92121

• What is LPL Financial's ISIN number?

  LPL Financial's international securities identification number is: US50212V1008

• What is LPL Financial's CUSIP number?

  LPL Financial's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 50212V100