LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (LPLA) — payout ratio, three ways
Fiscal year ending 2025-12-31 · sector Financial services · payout ratios computed from SEC filings, not taken from a data vendor.
| Basis | Payout | Why it differs |
|---|---|---|
| GAAP earnings | 11.0% | The figure most screeners publish. |
| Operating cash flow | negative | Operations consumed $411m of cash rather than producing any, so no ratio exists. |
| Free cash flow | negative | Operating cash flow was $982m short of capital spending, so no ratio exists. The dividend was not funded from free cash flow this year. |
Nothing is marked as applying, deliberately. The basis that governs here is free cash flow, and this year it yields no ratio at all. The figure above is shown for completeness; treating it as the answer is the substitution this page exists to prevent.
Coverage rating 10 / 100 — Not covered. ? Peer standing 10/50Direction 0/30Stability 0/20
Free cash flow payout, last 6 years
| Fiscal year | Payout |
|---|---|
| 2023-12-31 | 84.3% |
| 2022-12-31 | 4.9% |
| 2021-12-31 | 33.8% |
| 2020-12-31 | 12.5% |
| 2019-12-31 | 17.7% |
| 2018-12-31 | 19.7% |
Coverage worsened sharply this year, 4.9% to 84.3%, after no clear trend before it. One year is not a trend, but it is worth knowing which direction the last one moved.
Among the 24 financial services companies here, only 21% pay out a larger share on this basis — this is at the demanding end.
The arithmetic
- GAAP earnings — dividends declared per share $1.20 ÷ diluted EPS $10.92
- Operating cash flow — dividends paid $94.4m ÷ operating cash flow $-411.4m
- Free cash flow — dividends paid $94.4m ÷ (operating cash flow $-411.4m − capex $570.4m)
Where the figures came from
- 10-K filed 2026-02-23 · accession
0001628280-26-010705
Every one is public at sec.gov and free to check. That is the point — you should not have to take my word for any of it.
Computed by an open pipeline reading SEC XBRL directly. If any number here looks wrong to you, tell me — that is more useful to me than agreement.