LPL Gets a $30/Share Price for Its IPO

The underwriters for LPL Investment Holdings, the parent company of LPL Financial, the largest independent broker-dealer, late Wednesday priced its initial public offering of stock, set for Thursday, Nov. 18, at $30/share, according to reliable reports from The Wall Street Journal, Reuters and Bloomberg. That puts the opening share price at the higher end of the original price range as contained in its most recently amended S-1 filing with the SEC, which was $27 to $30. Selling the 15.7 million shares at $30/share would raise $468 million for the stock sellers, mainly LPL corporate executives.

Trading of shares in the largest independent broker-dealer, led by chairman Mark Casady, will take place on Thursday through the Nasdaq exchange, under the ticker LPLA.

Lead underwriters for the 15,614,723 shares of common stock of LPL Financial to be offered are Goldman, Sachs; Morgan Stanley; Bank of America/Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan Chase; the filing said the underwriters would be able to purchase up to an additional 1.56 million shares from LPL Investment Holdings Inc. and "one of our stockholders."