LPL Adjusts Commonwealth Asset Retention to 83%
LPL Financial said it is two weeks away from the conversion of Commonwealth Financial Network advisors onto its platform, as it reported third-quarter 2026 earnings on Tuesday. The broker/dealer said it expects to retain 83% of Commonwealth assets, down from the 85% reported last quarter and the 90% target the firm started with.
During a third-quarter earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Matt Audette said the firm was at around 85% retention last quarter for Commonwealth advisors that had signed on to stay, but a small number of those advisors have since decided to leave.
“From an operational standpoint, the technology and capability builds that underpin this conversion are complete,” said LPL Chief Executive Officer Rich Steinmeier. “The householding architecture, advanced case management platform and the single relationship agreement we have discussed on prior calls are built and in final testing. While each was scoped to enable the Commonwealth conversion, each also benefits every advisor and institution already on our platform.”
While retention is coming in lower than expected, Audette said the synergies are higher. LPL estimates run-rate EBITDA of about $415 million once the firm is fully integrated. That translates to a purchase price multiple of roughly 8x EBITDA.
“Once you get on the other side of conversion, it’s usually those revenue synergies that will come quicker, things like sponsor-related agreements, cash sweep economics as it comes into our program,” Audette said. “And then the expense side is just more gradual over time as a general point. And probably be more gradual in this instance because we are taking our time. We are intentionally retaining the entirety of their service organization that is a big part of their value proposition and their model. And then the other areas will be steady throughout 2027 to ramp up to that $415 million.”
Overall, the firm reported organic net new assets of $29 billion, a 5% annualized growth rate, and its best organic growth rate in over a year, excluding large institutional wins.
The firm reported non-GAAP earnings per share of $5.97, up 15% year-over-year and beating analysts’ expectations by $0.28, on revenue of $5.34 billion, up about 17% year-over-year and missing expectations by $10 million, according to SeekingAlpha.com.
Recruited assets were $24 billion for the quarter, bringing its total to $81 billion for the trailing 12 months. That included $23 billion in assets recruited into LPL’s traditional independent markets.
In an analyst note, Jeff Schmitt at William Blair said he was encouraged by improving organic growth and expense discipline, but that the shares are trading below his firm’s expectations. He said that reflects investor concerns about artificial intelligence and LPL’s reliance on sweep-cash economics.
“We believe these concerns are overstated, but also see a good chance LPL adopts a platform fee or similar pricing change to reduce its reliance on spread income and create a more durable business model,” the analyst note said.
When asked about a possible platform fee, Steinmeier said the firm is considering pricing alternatives and exploring the impact such platform fees have had on other firms that implemented them. William Blair’s Schmitt pointed to Wells Fargo and Edward Jones, which have added platform fees.
LPL shares were down 12.95% in trading on Wednesday as of 1:06 p.m. Eastern time.
