A rosy quarter for assets under management

The latest quarter was an enormous relief for many major money managers, which reported gains in assets under management for the three-month period ended in September, though several still saw declines from a year earlier.

The latest quarter was an enormous relief for many major money managers, which reported gains in assets under management for the three-month period ended in September, though several still saw declines from a year earlier.

Affiliated Managers Group Inc. reported combined assets under management of $199.3 billion for its money management subsidiaries, up 15% from the second quarter but down 3.9% from a year earlier.

Net client outflows in the third quarter totaled $1.1 billion, which Sean M. Healey, the firm’s president and chief executive, attributed to a decision by one large institutional client to move asset management in-house. An Affiliated spokeswoman declined to identify the client, though it reportedly is an Australian government entity.

Otherwise, Affiliated had positive inflows for all distribution channels, Mr. Healey said in a statement.

Institutional client assets came to $127.4 billion as of Sept. 30, up 14% from June 30 despite net third quarter outflows of $1.2 billion, but down 6.3% from a year earlier.

Affiliated reported net income of $17.8 million for the latest quarter, up 62% from the second quarter and up 7.9% from a year earlier. Revenue came to $217.5 million, up 8.1% from the second quarter but down 25% from a year earlier.

AllianceBernstein LP reported assets under management of $498 billion as of Sept. 30, up 11% from June 30 but down 16% from a year earlier.

For the third quarter, market-related gains of $63.7 billion more than offset net outflows of $12.9 billion. Those outflows were down 46% from the second quarter’s $24 billion, and down 13% from a year earlier.

For the third quarter, net income came to $199.3 million, up 55% from the second quarter but down 9.2% from a year earlier.

Net revenue, meanwhile, came to $806 million, up 12% from the second quarter but down 4.2% from a year earlier.

BlackRock Inc.‘s assets reached a new high at $1.435 trillion, an increase of 4% from the second quarter and up 14% from a year earlier.

Net new business in long-dated investment products totaled $14.5 billion. By contrast, net outflows in cash management were $26.4 billion and distributions from advisory accounts totaled $4.6 billion.

BlackRock reported net income of $317 million for the quarter, up 45% from the second quarter, and up 46% from a year earlier. Revenue, meanwhile, came to $1.14 billion, up 11% from the second quarter but down 13% from a year earlier.

Franklin Resources Inc. reported client assets under management of $523.4 billion, up 16% from June 30 and 3.2% higher than a year earlier.

Net new client inflows for the fiscal fourth quarter ended Sept. 30 came to $12.2 billion, more than double the $6 billion in inflows during the fiscal third quarter, according to a statement. Franklin suffered net outflows of $8.6 billion during the year-earlier period.

Fiscal-fourth-quarter net income was $367 million, up 23% from the fiscal third quarter, and 22% above a year earlier. Operating revenue, meanwhile, came to $1.24 billion, up 15% from the fiscal third quarter but down 6.3% from a year earlier.

The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reported $848 billion in assets as of Sept. 25, the end of its third quarter, up 3.5% from three months earlier.

In its quarterly earnings statement, the company said that $39 billion in market appreciation during the quarter, largely from equity and fixed-income assets, more than offset the $10 billion in net outflows, primarily from money market assets.

Goldman Sachs reported net revenue of $12.37 billion for the quarter and net earnings of $3.19 billion.

Invesco Ltd.’s $416.9 billion in assets under management reflected an increase of 7.3% from June 30 and 1.8% from a year earlier.

Market gains of $27.4 billion accounted for most of Invesco’s 7.3% increase since June 30, as net inflows of $2.6 billion for its long-term equity and bond strategies were offset by a similar amount in outflows from money market funds, according to the company’s third-quarter earnings report.

Invesco reported net income attributable to common shareholders of $105.2 million for the third quarter, up 39% from the second quarter but down 20% from a year earlier. Total operating revenue, meanwhile, came to $705.8 million, up 12.9% from the second quarter but down 14.7% from a year earlier.

Janus Capital Group had $151.8 billion in assets, up 14.5% from June 30 but down 5.4% from a year earlier.

The increased third-quarter assets are primarily a result of $20 billion in market appreciation that offset $600 million in long-term net outflows, according to a news release.

Janus Capital Management and Perkins Investment Management LLC, both investment boutique subsidiaries, had long-term net inflows of $1.3 billion and $600 million, respectively. Long-term net outflows for Intech, another Janus Capital Group investment boutique, totaled $2.5 billion.

The firm posted third-quarter earnings of $8.2 million, compared with $15.8 million in the second quarter and $26 million a year earlier.

Contributing to the income decline for the quarter were a $20.5 million legal settlement and a $12.1 million severance package with former chief executive Gary Black. This was partially offset by a realized non-operating gain of $5.8 million.

Revenue increased 13.7%, or $227.6 million, from the second quarter, driven primarily by improving global markets.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s assets under management as of Sept. 30 totaled $1.3 trillion, up 8% from June 30 and 9% higher than a year earlier.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the company said that inflows for its liquidity, fixed-income and equity strategies during the third quarter partially offset the effect of lower market levels and outflows from alternatives strategies.

Net inflows came to $34 billion for the third quarter and $113 billion for the 12 months ended Sept. 30.

Net income for the asset management division came to $430 million for the quarter, up 22% from the second quarter and up 23% from a year earlier. Net revenue was $2.09 billion, up 5% from the second quarter and 6% from a year earlier.

Legg Mason Inc. reported $702.7 billion in assets as of Sept. 30, up 7% from June 30 but down 17% from a year earlier.

A statement announcing Legg Mason’s earnings attributed the quarter-over-quarter gain to market appreciation of $53.9 billion, overwhelming net outflows of $8.1 billion for the three-month period.

Net income for the fiscal second quarter came to $45.8 million, down 8.6% from the fiscal first quarter. The company reported a $108.7 million loss for the year-earlier period.

A spokeswoman said that the quarter-over-quarter decline in net income, despite higher assets under management, partly reflected a $22 million charge related to an exchange of debt into equity that was done in August.

Operating revenue, meanwhile, came to $659.9 million, up 7.6% from the fiscal fourth quarter but down 32% from a year earlier.

Morgan Stanley Investment Management’s assets grew to $386 billion, a 6.9% jump from June 30 but a drop of 20% from a year earlier, according to parent company Morgan Stanley’s earnings report.

For the third quarter, market-related gains more than offset net outflows of $8.7 billion, the company reported Oct. 21. It was the first time in five quarters that net outflows came to less than $20 billion.

Net revenue for MSIM, meanwhile, came to $698 million, up 21% from the second quarter and 7.9% from a year earlier.

State Street Global Advisors reported $1.74 trillion as of Sept. 30, up 11.5% from June 30 and 3% higher than a year earlier.

Investment management fees were $219 million, down 16% from a year earlier, attributable largely to a decrease in month-end equity valuations and a change in the composition of assets under management to passive from active strategies.

T. Rowe Price Group Inc. reported client assets under management of $366.2 billion for the third quarter, up 16% from the second quarter and 6.1% from the previous year.

The quarterly asset increase was powered by net inflows of $7.4 billion to its mutual funds and institutional separate accounts, and $43.2 billion in market gains, company executives said in its earnings report.

Mutual fund assets totaled $218.4 billion as of Sept. 30, up 15.6% from June 30 and 5.3% from a year earlier.

T. Rowe Price saw quarterly net inflows of $2.6 billion, with bond funds garnering $3.5 billion, equity funds flat and money market funds losing $900 million. Market-related gains for T. Rowe Price’s mutual funds came to $26.8 billion for the third quarter.

Third-quarter net income was $132.9 billion, up 33% from the second quarter but down 13% from a year earlier.

Revenue totaled $498.1 million, up 12.6% from the second quarter but down 10% from a year earlier.