LPL Financial Restarts Buybacks and Raises Commonwealth Ebitda

The Tip Desk · July 31, 2026 · 3 min read

Adjusted earnings were a record $5.84 a share as the firm repurchased $309 million of stock and lifted Commonwealth run-rate Ebitda to $435 million.

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (LPLA), a U.S. wealth-management firm that services and custodies assets for independent advisors, reported net income of $379 million, or $4.74 a share, for the second quarter ended June 30, 2026, up 39% from a year earlier. Adjusted earnings were a record $5.84 a share.

The sequential step-up in profit was modest: net income rose 6% from $356 million in the first quarter. Gross profit increased 24% year-over-year to $1,618 million. Core G&A increased 22% year-over-year to $519 million. Adjusted pre-tax income increased 30% year-over-year to $635 million.

Total revenue was $5.19 billion, up 35% from a year earlier. Advisory revenue was $2.63 billion. Commission revenue totaled $1.23 billion. Asset-based revenue was $835 million. Service and fee revenue was $209 million. Transaction revenue was $83 million. Interest income, net, was $47 million. Other revenue was $148 million.

Total client assets increased 34% year-over-year to $2.6 trillion. Advisory assets increased 46% year-over-year to $1.5 trillion and accounted for 60.4% of the total. Corporate RIA advisory assets were $1.19 trillion, independent RIA advisory assets were $358 billion, and brokerage assets were $1.01 trillion. Centrally managed assets were $246 billion.

Organic net new assets were $23 billion, or 4% annualized growth, after $21 billion in the prior quarter. Organic advisory net new assets were $30 billion, including $28 billion at corporate RIA and $2 billion at independent RIA. Brokerage organic net new assets were a $7 billion outflow. Net brokerage-to-advisory conversions were $6.6 billion. Recruited assets were $25 billion, up 35% from a year ago after a 55% year-over-year decline in the first quarter; trailing-twelve-month recruited assets were $89 billion.

Advisors numbered 32,475, with 331 net new advisors. Average total assets per advisor were $78.9 million. The quarterly annualized AUM retention rate was 97.4%.

Client cash balances were $57 billion, down $2 billion sequentially. Cash as a percentage of total client assets was 2.2%. Bank sweep balances were $54 billion and money-market sweep balances were $1.1 billion.

The company closed the Mariner Advisor Network acquisition, an LPL branch office supporting 367 advisors and $31 billion of client assets. About 223 advisors remain directly affiliated with LPL and about 144 hybrid advisors moved to Private Advisor Group’s hybrid RIA model. Liquidity & Succession deployed about $21 million of capital to close four deals, including one external practice.

Commonwealth Financial Network conversion remains on track for the fourth quarter of 2026, with about 90% asset retention expected. Estimated run-rate EBITDA increased from $410 million to $435 million.

Given performance to date, the company lowered its 2026 Core G&A outlook range to $2,140–2,165 million, including Commonwealth expenses, from the $2,155–2,190 million range set after the first quarter.

Share repurchases were $309 million after the program was resumed in April. On July 23, 2026, the board approved a $2.5 billion increase to the repurchase authorization. About $300 million of buybacks are planned for the third quarter. Dividends paid were $24 million; the board declared a $0.30 a share dividend payable August 28, 2026. Corporate cash was $430 million and the leverage ratio was 1.91x. Capital expenditures were $199.4 million and acquisitions, net, were $103 million.