LPL Financial said recruited assets reached a record $79 billion for the fourth quarter and a record $149 billion for 2024, up about 86% from 2023. The fourth quarter’s recruiting included $63 billion of assets that came over from Prudential, which transitioned its retail brokerage and investment advisory assets via a strategic relationship agreement with LPL.
The independent broker/dealer recruited $13 billion into its traditional independent channel during the quarter and $2 billion into its newer affiliation models, including LPL’s Strategic Wealth Services, employee and RIA offering.
Advisor headcount was up 5,202 from the third quarter 2024 to a total 28,888. That includes 2,200 advisors from Atria Wealth Solutions, a broker/dealer network it acquired during the quarter, and 2,800 from Prudential. That leaves about 200 advisors from other firms.
Rich Steinmeier, who was appointed to the CEO role at LPL last year following the sudden firing of Dan Arnold in October, said the firm was proud of the recruiting results despite a slowdown in advisor movement across the industry.
“Advisor movement remains below historical norms,” he said during the firm’s fourth-quarter earnings call. “We’ve even discussed this at points internally to say, we think maybe this is where the norm is, in the 5% churn rate versus historical 6-6.5%. In spite of that market environment, where you see that movement being lower, we actually continue to win in that market because we’re growing our win rate. We’re growing our market share of advisors that are moving between firms, not just only independent advisors, but also W-2 advisors at wires and regional firms as well. And that’s what you see in fourth-quarter results.”
The firm ended the quarter with $1.7 trillion in total advisory and brokerage assets, up 29% year-over-year. Total organic net new assets were $68 billion during the quarter, a 17% annualized growth rate. That included $40 billion of assets from Prudential and $2 billion of assets that left the firm due to a “planned separation from misaligned large OSJs.” Excluding those impacts, organic growth was $30 billion, an 8% annualized growth rate.
Also during the quarter, Steinmeier said the firm shifted its organizational structure and leadership. In particular, it had the largest class of internal senior promotions in its history. In December, for instance, Marc Cohen, an executive vice president and head of corporate strategy, was promoted to managing director of business strategy and innovation. Cohen joined LPL in 2018 to build out the firm’s premium affiliation model, dubbed Strategic Wealth Services.
LPL continued to grow its liquidity and succession program. Steinmeier said the firm completed 22 deals in 2024, including five with external practices. The firm deployed about $81 million of capital across eight deals during the fourth quarter, including two external transactions.
Overall, LPL posted adjusted earnings per share of $4.25 during the quarter, up 21% year-over-year, beating analysts’ expectations by 29 cents, according to SeekingAlpha.com. The firm’s quarterly revenue of $3.51 billion, up 33% year-over-year, beat expectations by $180 million.
