RIA consolidators say they want big firms — but keep buying small ones

As RIA M&A continues to hit record levels, a new DeVoe & Company report highlights a widening “disconnect” between what leading buyers say they’re targeting and the firms they’re actually acquiring. 

The consulting firm’s Q2 2026 DeVoe RIA Deal Book found that consolidators bought small firms under $500 million in 42% of their first half transactions. Consolidators are defined in the report as serial acquirers with acquisition strategies at the center of their business models. 

Despite smaller sellers being the most frequent acquisition, zero consolidators have identified sub-$500 million RIAs as their primary target. Instead, 46% of consolidators surveyed by DeVoe said sellers between $1 billion and $5 billion AUM are their top target, followed by 27% claiming firms between $500 million and $1 billion while 18% had no target size and 9% said firms over $5 billion as their top target. 

“The disconnect highlights an important feature of today’s market. Consolidators may prefer larger RIAs, but a Consolidator’s scale, capital, brand recognition, and dedicated business development infrastructure allow them to compete broadly across all seller sizes,” reads the report from DeVoe. “Large firms may be the stated target, but smaller firms remain a meaningful part of the Consolidator growth engine.” 

Record deal volume in H1 2026

Although consolidators accounted for 50% of all RIA M&A transactions through June, they completed an overrepresented 58% of all small-seller transactions. The RIA industry announced 167 transactions through June, the strongest first half on record and 13% above the previous high tracked by DeVoe in 2025. 

“Clearly a blockbuster first half of the year, the strongest half we've ever experienced,” David DeVoe told InvestmentNews. “M&A, despite the market volatility and the dynamic geopolitical environment, continues to be really hot in the RIA space.” 

The three most active acquirers in the first half of this year were Hightower Signature Wealth, Beacon Pointe, and Savant Wealth Management each with eight deals. Ten firms closed four or more deals through midyear, including Wealth Enhancement (six), Cerity Partners, Corient, EP Wealth, and Mercer Advisors (five each), and CAPTRUST and Waverly Advisors (four each). 

Valuations going flat

None of this year's respondents anticipate higher RIA valuations over the next six months, down from 8% in 2025. 82% expect valuations to remain stable over the next six months, and 18% now expect them to decline, up from 7% a year ago.  

“There's more arrows pointing toward valuations going down than going up. We've had valuations running at an all-time high in this industry for about four years or more now,” said David DeVoe. “I don't anticipate or see them declining anytime soon, but there's more arrows pointing down than up.” 

This year’s first half saw 93 transactions in Q1 followed by a slowdown to 74 deals in Q2. DeVoe says that about 90% of sellers are selling to either a private equity firm or a private equity–backed organization. “Typically when we see extended periods of market volatility or market declines, we see RIA M&A slow down. Also, if we see a lot of geopolitical or U.S. political strife or economic challenges, we see M&A slow down,’ said DeVoe. 

Small sellers under $500 million accounted for 36% of total transactions the second quarter of 2026, essentially flat from the 34% recorded during the same period last year, but down sharply from the 50% share held by that size seller in 2022. 

“These are elements that can slow RIA M&A activity, especially amongst smaller firms. And one could say we perhaps have seen some of that as firms between $100 million and $500 million have gone from 50% of the transactions down to about 35% of the transactions,” said David DeVoe.