Legg Mason's (LM) AUM Up In November, Net Inflows Recorded

Legg Mason Inc. (NYSE:LM) , headquartered at Baltimore, reported 1% rise in assets under management (AUM), as of Nov 30, 2017, compared with the prior month. Preliminary month-end AUM came in at $763 billion, up 1% from October 2017.

November’s AUM displayed $1.4 billion fixed income inflows and $1.9 billion liquidity inflows, partly offset by equity outflows of $1 billion and $0.3 billion of alternative outflows. Notably, positive foreign exchange impact of $0.8 billion also remained a favorable factor.

Legg Mason’s equity AUM at the end of November 2017 inched up around 1.6% from the prior-month figure to $206.7 billion. Fixed income AUM moved up slightly from the previous month to $415.1 billion. However, alternative assets edged down moderately to $65.3 billion.

Rise in fixed income and equity AUM, partially offset by lower Alternative AUM, resulted in long-term AUM of $687.1 billion. The figure marked marginal growth from the previous month. Additionally, liquid assets, which are convertible into cash, moved up 2.7% to $75.9 billion.

Competitive Landscape

Among other investment managers, Franklin Resources Inc. (NYSE:BEN) announced preliminary AUM by its subsidiaries of $753.2 billion for November 2017. Results displayed improvement from $750.7 billion recorded as of Oct 30, 2017. Also, the figure moved up 5.4% from the prior-year quarter.

Invesco Ltd. (NYSE:IVZ) announced an increase in its preliminary month-end AUM for November 2017. The company’s AUM came in at $937.6 billion, a rise of 1% from the prior month. The rise reflected favorable market returns and inflows in PowerShares QQQs. Also, FX increased the November AUM by $3.4 billion. However, these were partially offset by a decline in Money Market AUM and net long-term outflows.

T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) announced preliminary AUM of $991 billion for November 2017. Results reflect 2.1% rise from $971 billion as of Oct 31, 2017. There were no client transfers from mutual funds to other portfolios in November 2017.

Our Viewpoint

Legg Mason has the potential to outperform its peers over the long run, backed by a diversified product mix and leverage to the changing market demography. However, absence of continued growth in equity markets and foreign exchange fluctuations remain headwinds.

Legg Mason currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Shares of the company have rallied around 35% so far, this year, outperforming 31.1% growth recorded by the industry.

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T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (TROW): Free Stock Analysis Report

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