Last month, Vanguard took back the title as the King of Mutual Funds from BlackRock by rising, once again, to the top of the scoreboard in net mutual fund flows.

Chicago-based investment research specialist Morningstar released its "Morningstar Direct Asset Flows Commentary: United States" report for May 2017. Alina Lamy, senior analyst of quantitative research, penned the report. (An abridged version of the report is publicly accessible, while the full report and appendices are available to Morningstar Direct Users.)

The low-cost mutual fund titan, Vanguard, came in first last month with a total of $35.878 billion in net open-end mutual fund and ETF inflows, M* estimates. BlackRock, driven largely by its iShares ETF business, came in second with $18.539 billion in estimated net inflows. Other big winners last month included: Pimco, with estimated net inflows of $3.617 billion; DFA, with estimated net inflows of $3.047 billion; Capital Groups' American Funds, with estimated net inflows of $3.032 billion; and Schwab, with their massive ETF and funds platform, generating estimated net inflows of $2.954 billion.

Speaking about Schwab, it once again led the big fund firm pack last month on a relative basis, bringing in estimated net inflows that was 2.07 percent of its AUM. Harris Oakmark came in second with 1.49 percent, and following close behind were BlackRock with 1.34 percent and Pimco with 1.12 percent.

On the flip side, despite a majority of the firms experiencing inflows, 38 percent of the biggest fund firms experienced outflows. SSgA suffered estimated net outflows of $6.161 billion last month followed by Harbor Capital Advisors who experienced net outflows of $1.555 billion. Other fund firms who suffered the biggest outflows for the month of May included: Franklin Templeton Investments, $1.4 billion in net outflows; Columbia Funds, $75.1 million in net outflows; and Wells Fargo, $70.4 million in net outflows.

The firm that suffered the biggest relative outflows in regards to its AUM was Harbor Capital Advisors with estimated net outflows of 2.22 percent. Other firms that suffered big outflows last month were: Artisan Partners, with net outflows of 1.27 percent; SSgA, with net outflows of 1.16 percent; and Wells Fargo with net outflows of 0.8 percent.

Industry wide, long-term, active mutual funds did better in May, generating net inflows of $9.745 billion contrasting with Aprils' outflows of $10.513 billion. Money market funds also had a good month, generating estimated net inflows of $11.549 billion. Passive funds had a good month as well, increasing net inflows from an estimated $5.532 billion to an total of $59.05 billion.

Within long term active mutual funds, taxable bond funds brought in an estimated $19.699 billion in net inflows last month. International equity funds brought in $6.765 billion, municipal bond funds $3.093 billion, and alternative funds $131 million.

Meanwhile, long term, active commodities funds dipped last month, with estimated net outflows of $24 million. U.S. equity funds had estimated net outflows of $16.152 billion, sector equity funds had outflows of $1.328 billion, and allocation funds had outflows of $2.439 billion.  

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