A successful sales and renewal season, the diversity of our revenue mix and the momentum from executing our workplace benefits and savings strategy gives us confidence in our ability to deliver on our growth targets. Moving to Slide 14; fourth quarter and full year investment management results reflect the strength and diversity of our platform and benefits from the AllianzGI transaction. We generated $42 million of adjusted operating earnings in the fourth quarter and full year earnings of $158 million, excluding the noncontrolling interest attributable to AllianzGI. Full year net revenues ex notables grew 11% year-over-year as additional revenues from AllianzGI more than offset the impact of macro headwinds on both equity and fixed income fees.
Full year adjusted operating margins improved over 100 basis points over the prior year to 26.8%. We expect it to improve at least another 100 basis points in 2023. This will be driven by our expanding private and alternative franchise, growing retail assets and continued expense discipline. Turning to investment performance. While our 3- and 5-year fixed income performance were impacted by the challenging markets in 2022, 100% of our fixed income funds outperformed on a 10-year basis and is a key differentiator. Turning to flows. We generated $147 million of positive net inflows in the fourth quarter and over $1 billion for the full year 2022. It is worth highlighting that this was achieved in a year of significant headwinds across global equity and fixed income markets and this marks seven consecutive years of positive flows for our business.
Our positive net flow result is distinguished from the outflows seen across the industry, primarily reflecting the strength of our insurance channel, demand for our private strategies and the contribution from AllianzGI. We are excited about our momentum going into 2023. We expect to build on the successes with AllianzGI, expand our private and alternatives platform and continue delivering strong long-term investment performance for our clients. Turning to Slide 15. Our year-end excess capital was approximately $900 million. During 2022, cash generation was once again in line with our 90% to 100% free cash flow conversion target. We generated over $600 million of excess capital from our strong adjusted operating results. Our ending RBC ratio was 488% and well above our 375% target.
We deployed $1.2 billion of capital over the year across share repurchases, debt extinguishment and common stock dividends. Looking ahead, we expect to resume share repurchase activity in the second quarter of 2023, assuming macro conditions remain constructive. With respect to leverage, we plan to utilize a new metric that excludes AOCI. This is consistent with the approach most rating agencies are taking and is more resilient across market cycles and post LDTI. Going forward, our target leverage ratio will be within a range of 25% to 30%. Over time, we expect to manage to the lower end of that range to provide ongoing flexibility. Our balance sheet and capital position is strong, and we are confident that our well-diversified investment portfolio will continue to deliver attractive through-the-cycle, risk-adjusted returns.
Turning to Slide 16; our 2022 financial results build upon our strong execution track record. We are 1 year into our 3-year Investor Day plan, and we are ahead of our EPS growth expectations. Looking ahead to 2023, we expect at least 10% EPS growth. With Benefitfocus, we see a path to our 12% to 17% EPS growth range. And notably, this is off a higher 2022 EPS base. In summary, our fourth quarter and full year earnings were strong, particularly given the challenging equity in fixed income markets, highlighting our execution strength and the benefit of our diversified businesses. We are focused on integrating and maximizing the full value from our recently acquired assets, while driving our workplace and investment strategy. We are also focused on delivering exceptional customer value which should translate into shareholder value, and we will continue to be balanced and disciplined around our capital.
With that, I will turn the call back to the operator so that we can take your questions.
Operator: Our first questions come from the line of Ryan Krueger with KBW. Please proceed with your questions.
