Dollar volume of announced M&A globally was more than $1.5 trillion in the third quarter, representing a 9% sequential increase.
It was also the fifth straight quarter that announced M&A activity surpassed $1 trillion.
Activist activity remains high with a 23% year-over-year increase in the number of new activist positions in the last 12 months.
We ranked number 1 in the Refinitiv League Tables for dollar volume of announced M&A, both globally and in the U.S. among independent firms for the latest 12-month period, and we rank 7 among all firms in the U.S. for the same period.
However, I would like to highlight that we achieved a fourth straight quarter of Advisory revenues greater than $500 million, and our year-to-date advisory revenues of $1.78 billion are more than all of 2020, which was a record year for us.
Based on current consensus estimates and actual results, we expect to maintain our number 4 ranking based on advisory fees among all publicly traded investment banking firms over the last 12 months and to grow our market share relative to these same firms.
We are working on several of the top 25 announced global M&A transactions this year, including advising GE Capital Aviation on its pending $30 billion sale to AerCap Holdings, advising the board of directors of Canadian Pacific on its pending $29 billion acquisition of Kansas City Southern, serving as the lead advisor to Grab on its $40 billion SPAC merger, serving as the sole advisor to Nuance on a pending $19.7 billion sale to Microsoft, and advising MGM Growth Properties on its $17.2 billion sale to VICI Properties.
Our underwriting business had another solid quarter booking more than $50 million in revenues and the pipeline for activity remained strong.
We served as active bookrunner on, approximately, 60% of the 24 equity deals and equity-linked deals we completed during the quarter.
A few notable transactions from the quarter include: in pharma, active book runner on Ascendis Pharmacy's $450 million follow-on offering; in consumer, passive bookrunner on Olaplex's $1.8 billion IPO; in TMT, passive bookrunner on Bumble's $1.1 billion follow-on offering; in consumer, we were financial advisor to Warby Parker for its direct listing.
We once again ranked in the top 20 for underwriting revenue as estimated by Dealogic for the latest 12-month period for deals listed on the U.S. exchanges, excluding bought deals and ATMs. We remain focused on working our way toward the top 10 for the market share.
Highlights include top-ranked independent research firm for the eighth straight year; number 2 ranked firm among all firms for analysts; record 43 individual positions and 40 team positions; and Ed Hyman and was awarded the number 1 position in economics for the 41st time.
Finally, AUM and our Wealth Management business finished the quarter at $11.3 billion as long-term performance remains solid and new business continues to be positive.
I will have more to say about my almost 13 years here on my last earnings call in early February, but I want to say that John and I have been partners in running Evercore for the last five years, for the first 3.5 years with John as Executive Chairman and I as CEO, and for the last 15 months as Co-Chairman of the Board and Co-CEOs.
When I convinced John to un-retire five years ago, and it took me 18 months to convince him, it was my deep hope that he would succeed me as CEO.
I'm also proud of the incredible strength of our culture, which truly has allowed us to thrive over the last 20 months and the last 12.5 years.
Roger's a very modest man, but I don't think he would mind me saying that he is today the single best person on the planet at what he does, and he has been a great partner to me over the last 12.5 years.
Our growth aspirations have evolved over the years from our goal of achieving $1 billion in advisory revenues to becoming the largest independent investment banking advisory firm in the world and the fourth largest in advisory fees among all firms, a goal that we first achieved in 2018 and have achieved every year since.
And our goal lately is to steadily gain market share and to narrow the gap between Evercore and the top 3 global firms by advisory revenues, all of whom, of course, are universal banking firms.
Add to that the two Advisory SMDs who were promoted earlier this year, and we have 10 new SMDs in Advisory that are ramping up in areas of strategic importance to us.
And, of course, there is additional inherent growth potential from the 30-plus Senior Managing Directors, including the 10 from this year, that have joined or have been promoted over the past three years and are still ramping up to full productivity.
And during the period 2015 to 2020, we reduced our adjusted weighted share count by 9%, or a little over 2% a year.
So far this year we have returned $631.5 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases.
Of the first 12 years that I have been doing Evercore earnings calls, in 11 of those 12 years, we have had record revenues and earnings per share.
Sitting where we are today, with year-to-date revenues roughly $100 million below last year's full-year record and nine month earnings per share about $0.80 above last year's full-year record, let me guide all of you by saying that 2021 will be another record year in revenues and earnings for Evercore.
For the third quarter of 2021, net revenues, net income, and earnings per share on a GAAP basis were $824 million, $160 million, and $3.74, respectively.
Year-to-date, net revenues, net income, and earnings per share on a GAAP basis were $2.17 billion, $444 million, and $10.19, respectively.
Third quarter adjusted net revenues of $832 million grew 104% year-over-year.
Year-to-date adjusted net revenues of $2.19 billion increased 62% compared to the prior year period.
This represents our best third quarter ever, our second-best quarter ever overall, and the first time adjusted net revenue surpassed $2 billion in the first nine months of the year.
Third quarter Advisory fees of $709 million grew 161% year-over-year.
Year-to-date advisory fees of $1.78 billion increased 84% versus the prior year period.
Our advisory fees include, approximately, $93 million of revenue from transactions that closed in early October.
To compare, we recognized $59 million in the second quarter of 2021 and $20 million in the third quarter of 2020.
Third quarter underwriting fees of $54 million reflected a decline of 18% year-over-year.
This compares favorably to the overall market for U.S. equity and equity-linked issuance which declined nearly 25% year-over-year as SPAC activity slowed dramatically.
Year-to-date underwriting fees of $182 million are essentially flat versus the prior-year period, which as a reminder, included two sizable transactions in the second quarter of 2020 that totaled nearly $45 million in revenues.
Third quarter commissions and related revenue of $47 million increased 6% year-over-year even as market volumes and volatility declined.
Year-to-date commissions and related revenue of $151 million declined 2% versus the prior year period as market volatility declined significantly.
Third quarter asset management and administration fees of $20 million increased 21% year over year on higher AUM.
Year-to-date asset management and administration fees of $57 million increased 21% versus the prior year period.
Our adjusted compensation ratio for the third quarter is 58.5%, which brings our year-to-date comp ratio to 58.8%.
Third quarter non-compensation costs of $83 million increased 17% year over year driven by higher professional fees due to higher activity levels and strong recruiting efforts, higher T&E due to both increased travel and entertainment, and higher occupancy expense due to more space as we grow as well as expenses relating to our return to the office.
On a sequential basis, non-compensation expenses increased 14% driven by higher professional fees which reflected the aforementioned recruiting costs, higher other operating expenses, and higher T&E.
In 2019, of our T&E expense, 83% was related to travel.
Year-to-date travel is running at about 20% of 2019 levels, and we expect that to settle at 70% to 80% of pre-pandemic levels.
Third quarter adjusted operating income and adjusted net income of $262 million and $188 million increased 237% and 258%, respectively.
Year-to-date adjusted operating income and adjusted net income of $674 million and $505 million increased 156% and 177%, respectively, versus the prior year period.
We delivered a third quarter adjusted operating margin of 31.5%, while third quarter adjusted earnings per share of $3.96 increased 257% year over year.
Our year-to-date adjusted margin is 30.7%.
Adjusted earnings per share of $10.41 increased 170% versus the prior year period.
Turning to our balance sheet, as of September 30th, we held $479 million in cash and equivalents and $1.3 billion in investment securities.
Year-to-date we have bought back 4.1 million shares in total; approximately, half of which is in excess of what we bought back to offset dilution from RSU grants.
Ralph has led this firm over the last 13 years guiding us with vision, extraordinary leadership, and management skills, building a firm of broad and deep capability with the highest quality talent on the street.
Over the last five years, I've had the great good fortune to partner with Ralph and Roger to work together to continue our journey of growth, supported by the same underpinning of principles on which Roger founded the firm 25 years ago.

Summary:
For the third quarter of 2021, net revenues, net income, and earnings per share on a GAAP basis were $824 million, $160 million, and $3.74, respectively.
We delivered a third quarter adjusted operating margin of 31.5%, while third quarter adjusted earnings per share of $3.96 increased 257% year over year.