After recruiting close to 130 financial advisors in 2025 from the boutique Commonwealth Financial Network, Kestra Financial is adding firepower to its effort to hire more financial advisors and has recently picked up two headhunters from LPL Financial, the industry’s leading firm in hiring financial advisors.
Kestra’s focus on building its total number of advisors has industry executives with two minds: Kestra may be looking to boost its financial advisor headcount for a pending sale, or it simply may be taking advantage of a frothy financial advisor hiring market, due in large part to LPL’s acquisition for $2.7 billion in cash of its rival Commonwealth.
“To me, this looks like Kestra could be getting ready for a deal,” said one senior industry executive who spoke privately to InvestmentNews about the matter. “They’re beefing up the numbers, and it’s owned by private equity.”
Others weren’t so sure of a Kestra transaction anytime soon.
“Kestra did really well with Commonwealth advisors because it’s truly a good cultural fit,” said another industry executive, who also spoke privately to InvestmentNews about the matter. “Recruiters from LPL also come with a pipeline. Kestra only had a handful of recruiters so hiring two more doesn’t seem significant.”
“As a policy, Kestra does not comment on market speculation,” a company spokesperson said.
According to its website, Kestra Financial has more than 1,300 financial advisors working across its platform and $142 billion in total assets.
A report last month from AdvizorPro and Muriel Consulting showed that 653 advisors left Commonwealth since the firm announced its sale to LPL at the end of March 2025.
Muriel Consulting’s report found Raymond James (33%) to be the biggest winner of departing Commonwealth advisors, followed by Kestra (19%), and Cambridge Investment Research (11%).
Against the backdrop of a successful recruiting effort last year, Kestra has been revamping its lineup of recruiters.
Last June, Kestra Financial internally promoted James Collins, at the time senior vice president, business development, to executive vice president, business development.
Kestra has been picking up recruiters from LPL Financial, the largest broker-dealer in terms of headcount with 33,000 financial advisors on its platform and a recruiting powerhouse.
Kestra in January hired Austin Shives, formerly of LPL Financial, as vice president, business development based in Tampa, Fla. This month, it hired Benjamin Marks, who worked for LPL in Milwaukee, with the title vice president, business development consultant.
And the firm has recently seen a change in ownership.
Kestra Holdings a year ago announced the completion of its acquisition by funds managed by Stone Point Capital, a private equity firm focused on global financial services and related industries, replacing funds managed by Warburg Pincus, the company’s former majority owner.
Warburg Pincus in 2019 bought Kestra from Stone Point, so last year's transaction was a mirror image of the earlier deal.
Private equity firm Oak Hill Capital remained a minority owner.
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