What, no duck? At LPL, say the magic word and lose five bucks

Top executives with LPL Investment Holdings Inc. need to keep mum about the company's stock price during internal meetings — or they face a slap on the wrist from their peers. Chief executive Mark Casady said Thursday that management has instituted a $5 fine for executives who chitchat about the firm's stock price during meetings. LPL, the largest independent-contractor broker-dealer, with 12,000 reps and advisers, became a publicly traded company in November. The stock began trading at $30 per share, and in the ensuing weeks hit a high of $37.22. On Friday morning, shares of LPL Ticker:(LPLA) traded near $34. Not meant for rank and file employees, the $5 fine is to ensure top executives keep focused on the advisers and their businesses, Mr. Casady said. “We're trying to make sure, internally, that we don't fixate on the fact that we are public or the stock price or all these other things,” he said. Executives were told of the fine right after the IPO launched, he said. “We don't think that's the appropriate place to put our attention,” Mr. Casady said, adding that the focus needs to remain on whether the B-D's advisers are happy, and whether retention of advisers and growth is strong. “We've had one fine,” said Mr. Casady, who declined to name the senior executive who broke the rule. “It's our way of humorously focusing on the issue.”