LPL Monetary mentioned recruited belongings reached a document $79 billion for the fourth quarter and a document $149 billion for 2024, up about 86% from 2023. The fourth quarter’s recruiting included $63 billion of belongings that came visiting from Prudential, which transitioned its retail brokerage and funding advisory belongings through a strategic relationship settlement with LPL.
The impartial dealer/vendor recruited $13 billion into its conventional impartial channel through the quarter and $2 billion into its newer affiliation fashions, together with LPL’s Strategic Wealth Companies, worker and RIA providing.
Advisor headcount was up 5,202 from the third quarter 2024 to a complete 28,888. That features 2,200 advisors from Atria Wealth Options, a dealer/vendor community it acquired through the quarter, and a pair of,800 from Prudential. That leaves about 200 advisors from different companies.
Wealthy Steinmeier, who was appointed to the CEO position at LPL final yr following the sudden firing of Dan Arnold in October, mentioned the agency was pleased with the recruiting outcomes regardless of a slowdown in advisor motion throughout the business.
“Advisor motion stays beneath historic norms,” he mentioned through the agency’s fourth-quarter earnings name. “We’ve even mentioned this at factors internally to say, we expect perhaps that is the place the norm is, within the 5% churn charge versus historic 6-6.5%. Regardless of that market surroundings, the place you see that motion being decrease, we really proceed to win in that market as a result of we’re rising our win charge. We’re rising our market share of advisors which might be transferring between companies, not simply solely impartial advisors, but additionally W-2 advisors at wires and regional companies as nicely. And that’s what you see in fourth-quarter outcomes.”
The agency ended the quarter with $1.7 trillion in whole advisory and brokerage belongings, up 29% year-over-year. Complete natural internet new belongings had been $68 billion through the quarter, a 17% annualized progress charge. That included $40 billion of belongings from Prudential and $2 billion of belongings that left the agency attributable to a “deliberate separation from misaligned massive OSJs.” Excluding these impacts, natural progress was $30 billion, an 8% annualized progress charge.
Additionally through the quarter, Steinmeier mentioned the agency shifted its organizational construction and management. Particularly, it had the most important class of inside senior promotions in its historical past. In December, as an example, Marc Cohen, an government vp and head of company technique, was promoted to managing director of enterprise technique and innovation. Cohen joined LPL in 2018 to construct out the agency’s premium affiliation mannequin, dubbed Strategic Wealth Companies.
LPL continued to develop its liquidity and succession program. Steinmeier mentioned the agency accomplished 22 offers in 2024, together with 5 with exterior practices. The agency deployed about $81 million of capital throughout eight offers through the fourth quarter, together with two exterior transactions.
Total, LPL posted adjusted earnings per share of $4.25 through the quarter, up 21% year-over-year, beating analysts’ expectations by 29 cents, in line with SeekingAlpha.com. The agency’s quarterly income of $3.51 billion, up 33% year-over-year, beat expectations by $180 million.
