Back to top

Image: Bigstock

LPL Financial (LPLA) Reports Improvement in July Metrics

Read MoreHide Full Article

LPL Financial Holdings Inc.’s (LPLA - Free Report) activity report for July 2018 reflects improvement from the prior month. The reported month’s figures reflect a decline of $2.3 billion in assets related to the acquisition of the broker-dealer network of National Planning Holdings, Inc. These assets were wrongly attributed to the company by a product sponsor.

LPL Financial recorded total brokerage and advisory assets of $668.9 billion at the end of July, up 1.5% from the previous month. Of the total brokerage and advisory assets, brokerage assets were $370.4 billion while advisory assets totaled $298.5 billion.

LPL Financial reported $28.2 billion of total client cash sweep balances for July, down 1.4% from June. Of the total, $21.4 billion was insured cash, $3.8 billion was deposit cash while the remaining $2.9 billion was money market cash balance.

With the gradual stabilization of equity markets, trading activities are anticipated to improve. While dismal top-line growth remains a near-term concern, LPL Financial’s efforts to extend its offerings to all affiliated advisors are expected to help it gain greater market share.

LPL Financial currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The company’s share price movement reflects investors’ optimism as the stock has rallied 16.2% so far this year against 2.6% decline for the industry.



Performance of Other Investment Brokers

Interactive Brokers Group, Inc.’s (IBKR - Free Report) Electronic Brokerage segment reported a year-over-year decrease in DARTs for July. Total client DARTs were 748,000, decreasing 6% from June 2018 but increasing 8% from July 2017. Total customer accounts grew 27% year over year and 2% sequentially to 555,000 in July 2018.

Charles Schwab’s (SCHW - Free Report) monthly activity for July 2018 reflects year-over-year rise. Total client assets came in at $3.5 trillion at the end of the month, increasing 12% from the year-ago quarter. Further, client assets receiving ongoing advisory services were $1.8 trillion, up 15% year over year.

E*TRADE Financial has reported a rise in DARTs for July 2018. According to its monthly market activity, the company’s DARTs came in at 250,787, down 8% from the previous month but up 20% year over year. Notably, derivatives comprised 34% of DARTs in July.

More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!

It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.

Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.  

Click here for the 6 trades >>