Raymond James Financial is closing in on UBS Wealth Management in terms of advisor headcount, according to the firm's fiscal third quarter earnings report.
The St. Petersburg, Fla.-based firm reported it gained another 120 advisors last quarter and now has over 6,500 financial advisors, just a few hundred shy of the Swiss bank’s 6,980 advisor force.
“We continue to benefit from very robust financial advisor retention and recruiting results, which has helped us achieve quarter-end records for both client assets under administration and financial assets under management,” CEO Paul Reilly said.
Overall, Raymond James reported a strong third fiscal quarter, with record revenues and profit gains that beat analysts’ predictions. Net revenues were a record $1.32 billion for the quarter, up 9 percent from a year ago and up 3 percent over the previous quarter.
Net income for the quarter of $133.2 million, or $0.91 per share, beat analysts’ estimates by $0.02, according to Seeking Alpha.
Here are the highlights from the firm’s private client group, which features its brokerage and advisory businesses:
- The Private Client Group reported net revenues of $892.2 million, up 9 percent from a year prior and up 2 percent sequentially. Quarterly net income hit $86.4 million, up 6 percent compared to the prior year’s fiscal third quarter and 15 percent compared to the preceding quarter.
- Revenue growth in the division was largely driven by assets in fee-based accounts, which increased 11 percent over last year’s June to $186.2 billion, representing 39 percent of the segment’s total client assets.
- Recruiting continued to return strong results, with the firm adding 123 since the previous quarter, reaching 2,541 advisors in Raymond James & Associates (the employee channel) and 3,487 in Raymond James Financial Services (the independent contractor channel). Advisors with Raymond James Limited and Raymond James Investment Services numbered 479 at the end of June.
- Securities commissions and fees in the private client group were $750.4 million, up by 9 percent from year ago and up 3 percent sequentially.
- Private client group assets under administration grew to $475.4 million, growing by about 1 percent sequentially and 5 percent from a year ago.