LPL’s Adviser Recruiting Rebounds as Q2 Net Income Jumps 39%
LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: LPLA) reported second-quarter net income of $379.3 million, or $4.74 per diluted share, a 39% increase from $273.2 million, or $3.40 per share in Q2 2025. Adjusted earnings per share rose 29% year-over-year to $5.84, a company record.
The results build on a record first quarter, when LPL posted net income of $356 million, or $4.43 per share, and trimmed its estimated run-rate earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization for the Commonwealth Financial Network acquisition to $410 million, citing market-driven factors rather than any change in expected synergies. That estimate has now moved the other direction: LPL raised its Commonwealth run-rate EBITDA outlook to $435 million, the firm said, without specifying the drivers of the increase beyond market conditions.
Total client assets reached $2.6 trillion at June 30, up 34% year-over-year and 10% from the first quarter. Advisory assets grew 46% year-over-year to $1.5 trillion and now represent 60.4% of total client assets, up from 55.3% a year ago and continuing a shift toward advisory accounts that AltsWire has tracked across multiple LPL earnings cycles. Total organic net new assets were $23.1 billion, representing 4% annualized growth, consistent with the prior quarter’s pace.
Adviser recruiting reversed the softening AltsWire flagged last quarter. Recruited assets under management totaled $24.9 billion, up 35% from a year ago and well above the $17.4 billion LPL posted in the first quarter. LPL added a net 331 advisers during the quarter, a turnaround from a net loss of 34 in the first quarter, which the firm had attributed at the time to Commonwealth-related attrition among transitioning advisers. LPL’s adviser count stood at 32,475 as of June 30.
LPL Financial chief executive officer Rich Steinmeier said the company is “on track to onboard Commonwealth later this year,” with conversion still targeted for the fourth quarter and asset retention expected at approximately 90%. In the latest earnings call, Steinmeier said asset retention is hovering in the mid-80% range.
Advisory consulting firm Muriel Consulting found that approximately 2,000 Commonwealth advisers have stayed on and more than 950 have left, an adviser retention rate of 68%.
LPL president and chief financial officer Matt Audette said the quarter reflected “record adjusted earnings per share and further progress driving improved operating leverage.”
The firm also closed its previously announced acquisition of Mariner Advisor Network, an LPL branch office supporting 367 advisers managing $31 billion in client assets. Approximately 223 of those advisers remain directly affiliated with LPL, while roughly 144 hybrid advisers transitioned to Private Advisor Group’s hybrid registered investment adviser model, according to LPL.
On capital returns, LPL repurchased $309.5 million in shares during the quarter, ahead of the roughly $125 million in additional buybacks it had guided to for the second quarter in its Q1 report, and plans approximately $300 million more in the third quarter. From July 1 through July 30, the company repurchased 420,464 additional shares for $134.3 million. On July 23, the board authorized a $2.5 billion increase to LPL’s share repurchase capacity. The board also declared a $0.30 per share dividend, consistent with the prior quarter, payable on or around Aug. 28 to stockholders of record as of Aug. 14.
Core general and administrative expense was $519.3 million, down from $532 million in the first quarter and below the low end of the firm’s guidance range; LPL lowered its full-year 2026 outlook for the expense to a range of $2.14 billion to $2.165 billion.
Last week, the firm introduced LPL Latitude, a technology platform that the firm said consolidates its data architecture, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, adviser workflow, and end-investor tools into a single system built with nearly $2 billion of investment during the last three years.
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