LPL Financial Holdings, the nation’s largest independent broker-dealer (IBD), yesterday announced its first appearance on the Fortune 500 list. Other IBDs that are business units with financial services giants have may have part of conglomerates in the Fortune 500, but LPL is believed to be the first "pure" IBD on the prestigious list.

The firm, which has headquarters in Fort Mill, S.C., San Diego and Boston, ranked No. 466 among the list of the largest U.S. companies ranked by annual revenue. It had record revenue of $5.9 billion in 2020, an increase of nearly 37% over the past three years, according to a news release from the company.

The company noted in the release that its total advisory and brokerage assets grew to $500 billion by 2016 and have doubled over the last five years to surpass $1 trillion, as of the end of Apil.

Dan Arnold, who took over as CEO and president in 2017, said in a statement that the company’s performance is a testament to the extraordinary work that its financial advisors do for their clients and “the dedication of our team to deliver on our mission to take care of our advisors so they can take care of their clients.” “We maintain an unwavering commitment to advisor independence, a model that is increasingly preferred by both advisors and investors as the marketplace seeks choice, transparency and personalized experiences.”

The company was founded in 1989 to “support independent financial advisors, guided by a belief that Americans deserve access to objective advice from a trusted financial advisor,” the release said. It added that its model is geared to giving advisors the freedom and flexibility to build their practice and focus on the place the needs of their clients.

Since Arnold became CEO in January 2017, LPL stock has climbed from $39 a share to $144 a share. Its market capitalization now eceeds $11 billion. LPL today has more than 4,800 employees to support more than 18,000 advisors and 800 financial institutions. The company serves more than six million investor accounts.