Franklin's (BEN) May AUM Grows on Stellar Market Returns

Franklin Resources BEN announced preliminary assets under management (AUM) by its subsidiaries of $617.6 billion for May 2020. Results displayed a 3.04% increase from the $599.4 billion recorded as of April 30, 2020. Lower net outflows and a solid market performance led to this upsurge. However, the reported figure dropped 11.1% year on year.

Month-end total equity assets came in at $237.5 billion, up 4.3% from the previous month but down 12% year over year. Of the total equity assets, around 53% were from international sources, while the remaining 47% came in from the United States.

Total fixed income assets were $240.8 billion, marginally up from April 2020 but down 15.4% from the prior-year period. Overall, tax-free assets accounted for only 27% of fixed-income assets, while the remaining 73% was taxable.

Franklin recorded $129.1 billion in hybrid assets, up 5.3% from the $122.6 billion witnessed in the previous month but down 1.4% from the $130.9 billion reported in May 2019.

Cash management funds came in at $10.2 billion, in line with the prior-month figure but up from the $9.7 billion recorded in the previous year.

Though regulatory restrictions and a sluggish economic recovery might impede AUM growth and escalate costs, the company’s global footprint is an exceptionally favorable strategic point as its AUM is well diversified.

Currently, Franklin sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Shares of the company have gained 25.8% in the past three months compared with 25.4% growth registered by the industry. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Competitive Landscape

Invesco’s IVZ preliminary May-end AUM of $1,142.5 billion represents a rise of 2.1% from the previous month. This increase resulted from favorable market returns, partly offset by net outflows. Notably, an unfavorable foreign-exchange movement resulted in a fall in the monthly AUM by $1.4 billion.

Legg Mason Inc. LM reported 2.2% growth in AUM balance as of May 31, 2020, from the previous month. Preliminary month-end AUM came in at $780.2 billion, up from the April 2020 figure of $763.1 billion.

Among others, T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. TROW is expected to release preliminary AUM results for May, later this week.

Breakout Biotech Stocks with Triple-Digit Profit Potential

The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. They’re also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases.

Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +50%, +83% and +164% in as little as 2 months. The stocks in this report could perform even better.

See these 7 breakthrough stocks now>>

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
 
Franklin Resources, Inc. (BEN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Legg Mason, Inc. (LM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (TROW) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Invesco Ltd. (IVZ) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
 
Zacks Investment Research