We also continue to broaden our product offerings in areas where we see attractive growth opportunities. We remain focused on expanding our capabilities and product offerings in ETFs and other areas where we see growing client demand and attractive opportunities for long-term growth. On the institutional side, while known redemptions do exceed known wins, the sales pipeline is stronger than it has been in a year and is diversified across five managers and six strategies. The operating margin was 26.1%, up from 24%, and excluding the discrete item, was 28.2%.
Earnings per share as adjusted of $5.54 increased from $5.38 and were $5.97 excluding the discrete item. During the quarter, we repurchased approximately 70,000 shares for $10 million and paid our quarterly dividend. We continue to have financial flexibility to balance our capital priorities of investing in the business, returning capital to shareholders, and maintaining appropriate leverage. Within open-end funds, ETFs continued to grow, generating $0.3 billion of positive net flows and sustaining a strong double-digit organic growth rate.
The average fee rate of 43.1 basis points up from 41.9 basis points last quarter and included approximately 1.2 basis points of incentive fees. This non-recurring item consisted of a non-cash expense related to multiple annual investment professional stock-based awards that were fully expensed, primarily due to required acceleration upon achievement of employee retirement eligibility in the quarter. As a percentage of revenue, employment expenses were 55.6%, or 53.5% excluding the discrete item, essentially in line with our outlook. Excluding the grant, the modest increase in other operating expenses reflected the full quarter impact of a new manager.