LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq:LPLA) announced strong financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025, reporting significant growth in net income, earnings per share, and assets. The company also highlighted key progress in onboarding large institutions and strategic acquisitions, including the landmark agreement to acquire Commonwealth Financial Network.
LPL reported first-quarter net income of $319 million, or $4.24 per diluted share, an 11% increase from the $289 million, or $3.83 per share, in the same period last year. Adjusted earnings per share saw a notable 22% year-over-year increase to $5.15.
Gross profit for the quarter rose 19% year-over-year to approximately $1.27 billion, while adjusted pre-tax income climbed 23% to $509 million. Core general and administrative, or G&A, expenses increased 14% year-over-year to $413 million. The company also updated its 2025 core G&A outlook, lowering the upper end of the range by $15 million to an updated range of $1.73 billion to $1.765 billion, which includes costs related to Prudential Advisors and Atria Wealth Solutions but is prior to costs associated with Commonwealth.
“It’s been a strong start to the year for LPL,” said Rich Steinmeier, chief executive officer. “We delivered another quarter of strong business performance, reported excellent financial results, and reached an agreement to acquire Commonwealth, significantly accelerating our progress toward our vision to be the best firm in wealth management.”
Matt Audette, president and chief financial officer, added: “In the first quarter, we delivered solid business performance and financial results. We onboarded Prudential and Wintrust [Investments LLC] and are preparing to onboard First Horizon later this year. As a complement to our strong organic growth, we closed and onboarded the acquisition of The Investment Center in March, continue to prepare to onboard our Atria advisors, and lastly, entered into an agreement to acquire Commonwealth Financial Network. Looking ahead, our business momentum and financial strength position us well to continue delivering shareholder value.”
LPL’s total advisory and brokerage assets surged 25% year-over-year to $1.8 trillion. Advisory assets grew 23% to $977 billion, representing 54.5% of total assets.
The quarter saw robust total organic net new assets of $71 billion, marking a 16% annualized growth rate. This figure includes $27 billion from the onboarding of Prudential and $16 billion from Wintrust and certain private client business at Great Lakes Advisors LLC (collectively, Wintrust). Excluding these transitions and $0.7 billion in assets that off-boarded as part of a planned separation from misaligned, large offices of supervisory jurisdiction, organic net new assets were $29 billion, a 7% annualized growth rate.
Recruited assets were a standout at $39 billion for the quarter, a 91% increase from a year ago, contributing to a record $167 billion in recruited assets over the trailing 12 months. Total client cash balances stood at $53 billion.
LPL advanced its onboarding and M&A activity in the first quarter:
- Prudential: Successfully completed the onboarding, with $27 billion of the total $67 billion in brokerage and advisory assets transitioning onto LPL’s platform in Q1;
- Wintrust: Onboarded $16 billion of brokerage and advisory assets in Q1;
- First Horizon: Announced a strategic relationship in April 2025 to transition support for First Horizon Advisors Inc., which supports approximately 110 financial advisers and $16 billion in client assets. The transition is expected in the second half of 2025;
- Commonwealth: Announced a definitive purchase agreement to acquire the independent wealth management firm, which supports approximately 3,000 advisers managing $285 billion in assets. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2025, with conversion completed in mid-2026, subject to regulatory approvals;
- Atria: The conversion remains on track for completion in mid-2025;
- The Investment Center: Closed the acquisition, bringing $7 billion in brokerage and advisory assets; and
- Liquidity and succession: Deployed approximately $100 million of capital to close 10 deals in Q1.
LPL ended the quarter with corporate cash of $621 million and a leverage ratio of 1.82x. The company executed $100 million in share repurchases and paid $22.4 million in dividends during the first quarter.
To support its strategic acquisition of Commonwealth, LPL engaged in significant capital raising activities in April 2025, issuing $1.7 billion of common stock at $320 per share and $1.5 billion in senior unsecured notes. In February 2025, the company also issued $1.25 billion of senior unsecured notes, the proceeds of which were used to repay outstanding borrowings under its revolving credit facility.
Finally, LPL’s board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.30 per share. The dividend is payable on June 12, 2025, to stockholders of record as of May 30, 2025.
As of March 31, 2025, LPL supported more than 29,000 financial advisers that served $1.8 trillion in total advisory and brokerage assets.
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