LPL Financial Announces First Quarter 2025 Results

Key Financial Results:

• Net Income was $319 million, translating to diluted earnings per share ("EPS") of $4.24, up 11% from a year ago
• Adjusted EPS* increased 22% year-over-year to $5.15
  • Gross profit* increased 19% year-over-year to $1,273 million
  • Core G&A* increased 14% year-over-year to $413 million
  • Adjusted pre-tax income* increased 23% year-over-year to $509 million
    

Key Business Results:

• Total advisory and brokerage assets increased 25% year-over-year to $1.8 trillion
  • Advisory assets increased 23% year-over-year to $977 billion
  • Advisory assets as a percentage of total assets decreased to 54.5%, down from 55.0% a year ago
• Total organic net new assets were $71 billion, representing 16% annualized growth
  • This included $27 billion of assets from Prudential Advisors ("Prudential") and $16 billion of assets from Wintrust Investments, LLC and certain private client business at Great Lakes Advisors, LLC (collectively, "Wintrust") that onboarded during the first quarter, as well as $0.7 billion of assets that off-boarded as part of the previously disclosed planned separation from misaligned large OSJs. Prior to these impacts, organic net new assets were $29 billion, translating to a 7% annualized growth rate
• Recruited assets⁽¹⁾ were $39 billion, up 91% from a year ago
  • Recruited assets over the trailing twelve months were a record of $167 billion
• Total client cash balances were $53 billion, a decrease of $2 billion sequentially and an increase of $7 billion year-over-year
  • Client cash balances as a percentage of total assets were 3.0%, down from 3.2% in the prior quarter and prior year
    

Key Capital and Liquidity Results:

• Corporate cash⁽²⁾ was $621 million
• Leverage ratio⁽³⁾ was 1.82x
• Share repurchases were $100 million and dividends paid were $22.4 million

*See the Non-GAAP Financial Measures section and the endnotes to this release for further details about these non-GAAP financial measures

Key Updates

Large Institutions:

• Prudential: Completed the onboarding of Prudential, with $67 billion of brokerage and advisory assets, of which $27 billion transitioned onto our platform in Q1
• Wintrust: Onboarded Wintrust, with $16 billion of brokerage and advisory assets transitioning onto our platform in Q1
• First Horizon Bank ("First Horizon"): In April 2025, announced a strategic relationship agreement with First Horizon to transition support of the broker-dealer and investment advisory services of First Horizon Advisors, Inc., to LPL’s Institution Services platform, expected to be completed in the second half of 2025. First Horizon supports approximately 110 financial advisors who collectively serve $16 billion of client assets
  

M&A:

• Commonwealth Financial Network ("Commonwealth"): Announced a definitive purchase agreement to acquire Commonwealth, a privately-held independent wealth management firm headquartered in Massachusetts. Commonwealth supports approximately 3,000 advisors in the U.S., managing $285 billion of brokerage and advisory assets. The Company expects to close the transaction in the second half of 2025, subject to receipt of regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. Conversion is expected to be completed in mid-2026
• Atria Wealth Solutions, Inc. ("Atria"): On-track to complete the conversion in mid-2025
• The Investment Center, Inc. ("The Investment Center"): Closed on the acquisition of The Investment Center, with $7 billion of brokerage and advisory assets
• Liquidity & Succession: Deployed approximately $100 million of capital to close 10 deals in Q1, including one external practice

Capital Management:

• Common Stock Offering: In April 2025, issued $1.7 billion of common stock at a price of $320 per share. Net proceeds from the common stock offering are expected to fund a portion of the cash consideration payable in connection with the acquisition of Commonwealth
• Corporate Debt:
  • In February 2025, issued $1.25 billion of senior unsecured notes, including $750 million of 5.200% notes due 2030 and $500 million of 5.650% notes due 2035. Net proceeds from this offering were used to repay outstanding borrowings under the Company's revolving credit facility
  • In April 2025, issued $1.50 billion of senior unsecured notes, including $500 million of 4.900% notes due 2028, $500 million of 5.150% notes due 2030 and $500 million of 5.750% notes due 2035. Net proceeds from this offering are expected to fund a portion of the cash consideration payable in connection with the acquisition of Commonwealth

Core G&A:

• Lowered the upper end of our 2025 Core G&A* outlook range by $15 million, resulting in an updated range of $1,730 million to $1,765 million. This includes $170 million to $180 million related to Prudential and Atria, but is prior to costs associated with Commonwealth
  

SAN DIEGO, May 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: LPLA) (the "Company") today announced results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2025, reporting net income of $319 million, or $4.24 per share. This compares with $289 million, or $3.83 per share, in the first quarter of 2024 and $271 million, or $3.59 per share, in the prior quarter.

"It’s been a strong start to the year for LPL," said Rich Steinmeier, CEO. "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."

"In the first quarter, we delivered solid business performance and financial results," said Matt Audette, President and CFO. "We onboarded Prudential and Wintrust 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."

Dividend Declaration

The Company's Board of Directors declared a $0.30 per share dividend to be paid on June 12, 2025 to all stockholders of record as of May 30, 2025.

Conference Call and Additional Information

The Company will hold a conference call to discuss its results at 5:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 8, 2025. The conference call will be accessible and available for replay at investor.lpl.com/events.

Contacts

Investor Relations
investor.relations@lplfinancial.com

Media Relations
media.relations@lplfinancial.com

About LPL Financial

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: LPLA) is among the fastest growing wealth management firms in the U.S. As a leader in the financial advisor-mediated marketplace⁽⁴⁾, LPL supports over 29,000 financial advisors and the wealth management practices of approximately 1,200 financial institutions, servicing and custodying approximately $1.8 trillion in brokerage and advisory assets on behalf of approximately 7 million Americans. The firm provides a wide range of advisor affiliation models, investment solutions, fintech tools and practice management services, ensuring that advisors and institutions have the flexibility to choose the business model, services, and technology resources they need to run thriving businesses. For further information about LPL, please visit www.lpl.com.

Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial LLC ("LPL Financial") or its affiliate LPL Enterprise, LLC ("LPL Enterprise"), both registered investment advisers and broker-dealers. Members FINRA/SIPC.

Throughout this communication, the terms "financial advisors" and "advisors" are used to refer to registered representatives and/or investment advisor representatives affiliated with LPL Financial or LPL Enterprise.

We routinely disclose information that may be important to shareholders in the "Investor Relations" or "Press Releases" section of our website.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains statements regarding:

• the expected closing of the Company’s acquisition of Commonwealth;
• the use of proceeds from the issuance of common stock and senior notes to fund a portion of the cash consideration payable in connection with the acquisition of Commonwealth;
• the amount and timing of the onboarding of acquired, recruited or transitioned brokerage and advisory assets, including Atria, Commonwealth, First Horizon and The Investment Center;
• the Company's future financial and operating results, growth, plans, priorities and business strategies, including forecasts and statements related to the Company's ICA yield, service and fee revenue, transaction revenue, core G&A expense, promotional expense, interest expense and income, depreciation and amortization, leverage ratio (including plans to reduce leverage) and share repurchases; and
• future capabilities, future advisor service experience, future investments and capital deployment, including share repurchase activity and dividends, if any, and long-term shareholder value.
  

These and any other statements that are not related to present facts or current conditions, or that are not purely historical, constitute forward-looking statements. They reflect the Company's expectations and objectives as of May 8, 2025 and are not guarantees that expectations or objectives expressed or implied will be achieved. The achievement of such expectations and objectives involves risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, levels of activity or the timing of events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include:

• the failure to satisfy the closing conditions applicable to the Company's purchase agreement with Commonwealth, including regulatory approvals;
• difficulties and delays in onboarding the assets of acquired, recruited or transitioned advisors, including the receipt and timing of regulatory approvals that may be required;
• disruptions in the businesses of the Company and Commonwealth that could make it more difficult to maintain relationships with advisors and their clients;
• the choice by clients of acquired or recruited advisors not to open brokerage and/or advisory accounts at the Company;
• changes in general economic and financial market conditions, including retail investor sentiment;
• changes in interest rates and fees payable by banks participating in the Company's client cash programs, including the Company's success in negotiating agreements with current or additional counterparties;
• the Company's strategy and success in managing client cash program fees;
• fluctuations in the levels of advisory and brokerage assets, including net new assets, and the related impact on revenue;
• effects of competition in the financial services industry and the success of the Company in attracting and retaining financial advisors and institutions, and their ability to provide financial products and services effectively;
• whether retail investors served by newly-recruited advisors choose to move their respective assets to new accounts at the Company;
• changes in the growth and profitability of the Company's fee-based offerings and asset-based revenues;
• the effect of current, pending and future legislation, regulation and regulatory actions, including disciplinary actions imposed by federal and state regulators and self-regulatory organizations;
• the cost of defending, settling and remediating issues related to regulatory matters or legal proceedings, including civil monetary penalties or actual costs of reimbursing customers for losses in excess of our reserves or insurance;
• changes made to the Company's services and pricing, including in response to competitive developments and current, pending and future legislation, regulation and regulatory actions, and the effect that such changes may have on the Company’s gross profit streams and costs;
• the execution of the Company's capital management plans, including its compliance with the terms of the Company's amended and restated credit agreement, the committed revolving credit facilities of the Company and LPL Financial, and the indentures governing the Company's senior unsecured notes;
• strategic acquisitions and investments, including pursuant to the Company's Liquidity & Succession solution, and the effect that such acquisitions and investments may have on the Company’s capital management plans and liquidity;
• the price, availability and trading volumes of shares of the Company's common stock, which will affect the timing and size of future share repurchases by the Company, if any;
• the execution of the Company's plans and its success in realizing the synergies, expense savings, service improvements or efficiencies expected to result from its investments, initiatives and acquisitions, expense plans and technology initiatives;
• whether advisors affiliated with Atria, Commonwealth, First Horizon, and The Investment Center will transition registration to the Company and whether assets reported as serviced by such financial advisors will translate into assets of the Company;
• the performance of third-party service providers to which business processes have been transitioned;
• the Company's ability to control operating risks, information technology systems risks, cybersecurity risks and sourcing risks; and
• the other factors set forth in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, as may be amended or updated in the Company's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q or other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Except as required by law, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this earnings release, and you should not rely on statements contained herein as representing the Company's view as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

LPL Financial Holdings Inc.
Management's Statements of Operations
(In thousands, except per share data)
(Unaudited)

Certain information in this release is presented as reviewed by the Company’s management and includes information derived from the Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated statements of income, non-GAAP financial measures and operational and performance metrics. For information on non-GAAP financial measures, please see the section titled "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" in this release.

_{Note: Totals may not foot due to rounding.}

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_{(a) Unsecured borrowing capacity of $2.25 billion at LPL Holdings, Inc.
(b) The SOFR rate option is a one-month SOFR rate and subject to an interest rate floor of 0 bps.}

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Management believes that presenting certain non-GAAP financial measures by excluding or including certain items can be helpful to investors and analysts who may wish to use this information to analyze the Company’s current performance, prospects and valuation. Management uses this non-GAAP information internally to evaluate operating performance and in formulating the budget for future periods. Management believes that the non-GAAP financial measures and metrics discussed below are appropriate for evaluating the performance of the Company.

Adjusted EPS and Adjusted net income

Adjusted EPS is defined as adjusted net income, a non-GAAP measure defined as net income plus the after-tax impact of amortization of other intangibles, acquisition costs, losses on extinguishment of debt, and amounts related to the departure of the Company's former Chief Executive Officer, divided by the weighted average number of diluted shares outstanding for the applicable period. The Company presents adjusted net income and adjusted EPS because management believes that these metrics can provide investors with useful insight into the Company’s core operating performance by excluding non-cash items, acquisition costs, and certain other charges that management does not believe impact the Company’s ongoing operations. Adjusted net income and adjusted EPS are not measures of the Company's financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered as alternatives to net income, earnings per diluted share or any other performance measure derived in accordance with GAAP. For a reconciliation of net income and earnings per diluted share to adjusted net income and adjusted EPS, please see the endnote disclosures in this release.

Gross profit

Gross profit is calculated as total revenue less advisory and commission expense; brokerage, clearing and exchange expense; and market fluctuations on employee deferred compensation. All other expense categories, including depreciation and amortization of property and equipment and amortization of other intangibles, are considered general and administrative in nature. Because the Company’s gross profit amounts do not include any depreciation and amortization expense, the Company considers gross profit to be a non-GAAP financial measure that may not be comparable to similar measures used by others in its industry. Management believes that gross profit can provide investors with useful insight into the Company’s core operating performance before indirect costs that are general and administrative in nature. For a calculation of gross profit, please see the endnote disclosures in this release.

Core G&A

Core G&A consists of total expense less the following expenses: advisory and commission; depreciation and amortization; interest expense on borrowings; brokerage, clearing and exchange; amortization of other intangibles; market fluctuations on employee deferred compensation; losses on extinguishment of debt; promotional (ongoing); employee share-based compensation; regulatory charges; and acquisition costs. Management presents core G&A because it believes core G&A reflects the corporate expense categories over which management can generally exercise a measure of control, compared with expense items over which management either cannot exercise control, such as advisory and commission, or which management views as promotional expense necessary to support advisor growth and retention, including conferences and transition assistance. Core G&A is not a measure of the Company’s total expense as calculated in accordance with GAAP. For a reconciliation of the Company's total expense to core G&A, please see the endnote disclosures in this release. The Company does not provide an outlook for its total expense because it contains expense components, such as advisory and commission, that are market-driven and over which the Company cannot exercise control. Accordingly, a reconciliation of the Company’s outlook for total expense to an outlook for core G&A cannot be made available without unreasonable effort.

EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA

EBITDA is defined as net income plus interest expense on borrowings, provision for income taxes, depreciation and amortization, and amortization of other intangibles. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure, plus acquisition costs, amounts related to the departure of the Company's former Chief Executive Officer, and losses on extinguishment of debt. The Company presents EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA because management believes that they can be useful financial metrics in understanding the Company’s earnings from operations. EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA are not measures of the Company's financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered as alternatives to net income or any other performance measure derived in accordance with GAAP. For a reconciliation of net income to EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA, please see the endnote disclosures in this release.

Adjusted pre-tax income

Adjusted pre-tax income is defined as income before provision for income taxes plus amortization of other intangibles, acquisition costs, amounts related to the departure of the Company's former Chief Executive Officer, and losses on extinguishment of debt. The Company presents adjusted pre-tax income because management believes that it can provide investors with useful insight into the Company's core operating performance by excluding non-cash items, acquisition costs, and certain other charges that management does not believe impact the Company's ongoing operations. Adjusted pre-tax income is not a measure of the Company's financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to income before provision for income taxes or any other performance measure derived in accordance with GAAP. For a reconciliation of income before provision for income taxes to adjusted pre-tax income, please see the endnote disclosures in this release.

Credit Agreement EBITDA

Credit Agreement EBITDA is defined in, and calculated by management in accordance with, the Company's amended and restated credit agreement (“Credit Agreement”) as “Consolidated EBITDA,” which is Consolidated Net Income (as defined in the Credit Agreement) plus interest expense on borrowings, provision for income taxes, depreciation and amortization, and amortization of other intangibles, and is further adjusted to exclude certain non-cash charges and other adjustments, and to include future expected cost savings, operating expense reductions or other synergies from certain transactions. The Company presents Credit Agreement EBITDA because management believes that it can be a useful financial metric in understanding the Company’s debt capacity and covenant compliance under its Credit Agreement. Credit Agreement EBITDA is not a measure of the Company's financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to net income or any other performance measure derived in accordance with GAAP. For a reconciliation of net income to Credit Agreement EBITDA, please see the endnote disclosures in this release.

Endnote Disclosures