Wells Fargo Advisors tops recruiting tally with 11 arrivals

Wells Fargo Advisors logged 11 arrivals and no departures in the four weeks to Nov. 6, moving from 37th to first on recruiting, according to Private Wealth Daily's Moves Wire.

Six of Wells Fargo's arrivals came in the week ended Nov. 6, including Merrill advisors Cristina Cardenas and Jon-Marc Blalock, Morgan Stanley's Kellon Lawrence and Edward Jones advisors Ashlea Gregory and Scott Sharp. That was the firm's highest weekly count in the tracked window. InvestmentNews reported books of $470 million for Lawrence, $150 million for Blalock's two-advisor team and $135 million for Sharp's two-advisor team, a combined $755 million.

For advisors gauging recruiting momentum, count and assets diverge: Morgan Stanley's two team wins carried a reported $8.9 billion, yet the firm is not among the 12 ranked. That total, reported by AdvisorHub, is more than 11 times the $755 million InvestmentNews reported for Wells Fargo's three largest arrivals of the week. The leaderboard counts movement records, not people or assets, so Wells Fargo's lead is a lead in volume.

Wells Fargo's zero departures need a qualifier. In the same week, a six-advisor team, Madison Reserve Wealth Management, left "Wells Fargo" for &Partners with a reported $728 million, and Michelle Kreda left Wells Fargo Private Client Group for Concurrent Investment Advisors, according to Financial Advisor Magazine. Those origins carry firm labels other than "Wells Fargo Advisors" in the move records. That likely explains the zero departures, though it is unconfirmed. If so, the 11 net arrivals overstate the firm's net gain.

Wirehouses were the destination for nine qualifying moves in the week ended Nov. 6, up from none the week before, according to the Moves Wire. That is nine of the 17 wirehouse-destination moves across the eight weeks charted below, and the channel recorded zero in four of those weeks. One week does not establish a trend. Qualifying moves overall rose to 42 from 18 the week before. RIA and independent firms took 18, their highest weekly count in the window and twice the wirehouse figure. Regional and bank firms and independent broker-dealers took four each.

Morgan Stanley recruited The Barnett, Coon, Armitage, Leach and Moore Group from Merrill Lynch, a nine-advisor team with a reported $5.9 billion book, according to AdvisorHub. It is the largest reported book among moves in the four-week window. On Nov. 2, AdvisorHub reported that the 11-advisor Bell Coast Group, with a reported $3 billion, had moved to Morgan Stanley from RBC Wealth Management-U.S. Because the Barnett team moved between two wirehouses, it shows which firm won the recruit rather than which channel is gaining.

The second-largest book of the window went independent. WealthManagement.com reported Andy Harris's breakaway from Commonwealth Financial Network to Kintra Wealth at $4.3 billion. The rest of the list is regional and independent firms taking teams from other firms. The Moves Wire lists $3 billion for The Hoge-Barrett Group's move from Truist Investment Services to Captrust Financial Advisors, a team of 13 according to InvestmentNews. It lists $2.4 billion for HighWater Wealth's move from U.S. Bank to LPL Financial, according to The DI Wire, and $2.3 billion for the 22-advisor ICG next's move from LPL to Osaic, according to IREI.

Two Fitzpatrick entries appear to describe the same team moving from Raymond James to Janney Montgomery Scott on Oct. 16. WealthManagement.com reported it at $3.5 billion and AdvisorHub at $3.3 billion. The chart therefore likely shows seven distinct moves, not eight.

For the week, the Moves Wire logged 42 qualifying moves, 25 team moves and two breakaways, with about $32 billion in reported book across 27 moves. Book sizes are only what the cited coverage disclosed and are not net flows. The total also likely counts some books more than once. Modera Wealth Management's nine-advisor team, with a reported $750 million, appears under three advisor names (Daniel Sexton, Jon Theriault and Mark Rylance), according to WealthManagement.com.

Private Wealth Daily's deal tally shows 145 deals in the week ended Nov. 6, 80 announced and 65 closed, against a four-week average of 167.3. Announcements were 76 and 80 in the last two weeks, the two lowest of the twelve weeks charted, against a peak of 236 in the week ended Aug. 28. Closings were 61 and 65 over the same two weeks, also the two lowest, against a peak of 164 in the week ended Oct. 2. The tally counts transactions reported in Private Wealth Daily's coverage, including deals outside wealth management, so it likely reflects reporting volume as well as dealmaking.

Hightower and Wealth Enhancement each appear as acquirers in seven deals over the twelve weeks, according to the same tally. Apella Wealth has six and Beacon Pointe Advisors has five. The chart below also includes buyers from outside wealth management. Apella also ranks eighth on the recruiting leaderboard, with three arrivals and no departures in the four weeks to Nov. 6, according to the Moves Wire.

Private-equity sponsors were named among the parties in 271 of 2,862 deals over the twelve weeks to Nov. 6, or 9.5%. The denominator covers every transaction in Private Wealth Daily's coverage, not only RIA deals, so the figure does not measure sponsor share of RIA M&A.