MutualFundWire.com: As Markets Swoon, Asset Managers Fall Nearly 12 Percent

MutualFundWire.com

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Friday, February 28, 2020

As Markets Swoon, Asset Managers Fall Nearly 12 Percent

Publicly traded asset managers are feeling the market's pain this week as coronavirus fears (and perhaps Bernie Sanders fears?) take their toll.

Jonathan Laurence Steinberg
WisdomTree Investments, Inc.
CEO

The S&P 500 has fallen about 10.8 percent so far this week, as of market close yesterday. 20 publicly traded U.S. asset managers have seen their shares fall an average of 11.7 percent. Shares in four of them — WisdomTree, Invesco, Cohen and Steers, and U.S. Global Investors — have slipped more than 15 percent each.

On the flip side, Legg Mason's shareholders may be breathing a sigh of relief that the impending sale of the company is a cash deal; Legg's shares are down only 0.8 percent this week, a much smaller slip than any of the 20 others MFWire tracks.

The good news, for both asset managers and the markets, is that the market's climbs prior to this week mean that, despite the recent decline, things look less bad the wider you make your lens. The S&P's only down 5.9 percent so far this month and 4.8 percent year-to-date, and it's still up 5.4 percent year-over-year. For the 20 asset managers tracked here, they're down an average of 7.7 percent this month and 7.8 percent year-to-date, and they're up 6.7 percent year-over-year.

Here are each of the 20 asset managers, ranked by their year-over-year share price performance:

Legg Mason (LM, $4.342 billion market cap), down 0.8 percent this week, up 27.6 percent this month, up 39.1 percent this year, and up 74.8 percent year-over-year;

Victory (VCTR, $1.417 billion market cap), down 11.3 percent this week, down 2.3 percent this month, down 2.9 percent this year, and up 59.1 percent year-over-year;

Cohen and Steers (CNS, $3.044 billion market cap), down 16.3 percent this week, down 12.9 percent this month, up 2.6 percent this year, and up 58.7 percent year-over-year;

Artisan (APAM, $2.296 billion market cap), down 14.3 percent this week, down 9.5 percent this month, down 6.5 percent this year, and up 24.1 percent year-over-year;

T. Rowe Price (TROW, $24.287 billion market cap), down 12.1 percent this week, down 10.3 percent this month, down 1.6 percent this week, up 22.8 percent year-over-year;

AllianceBernstein (AB, $2.993 billion market cap), down 10.5 percent this week, down 4.6 percent this month, up 3.3 percent this year, and up 13.9 percent year-over-year;

Virtus (VRTS, $808.423 million market cap), down 13 percent this week, down 4.9 percent this month, down 3.3 percent this year, and up 11 percent year-over-year;

BlackRock (BLK, $73.912 billion market cap), down 14.6 percent this week, down 9.8 percent this month, down 5.3 percent this year, and up 10.9 percent year-over-year;

Eaton Vance (EV, $4.994 billion market cap), down 12.8 percent this week, down 3.9 percent this month, down 5.1 percent this year, and up 7.5 percent year-over-year;

Federated Hermes (FII, $3.664 billion market cap), down 13.8 percent this week, down 15.3 percent this month, down 5.8 percent this year, and up 7.4 percent year-over-year;

Hennessy (HNNA, $73.867 million market cap), down 4.9 percent this week, up 1.5 percent this month, up 2.4 percent this year, and up 4.5 percent year-over-year;

Diamond Hill (DHIL, $423.358 million market cap), down 10.6 percent this week, down 11.1 percent this month, down 10.9 percent this year, and down 4 percent year-over-year;

U.S. Global Investors (GROW, $17.399 million market cap), down 16.1 percent this week, down 12 percent this month, down 19.8 percent this year, and down 9.3 percent year-over-year;

Manning and Napier (MN, $26.666 million market cap), down 7.6 percent this week, down 10 percent this month, down 0.7 percent this year, and down 14.9 percent year-over-year;

Waddell and Reed, parent of Ivy (WDR, $984.689 million market cap), down 12.6 percent this week, down 12 percent this month, down 14.6 percent this year, and down 18.7 percent year-over-year;

Invesco (IVZ, $6.627 billion market cap), down 16.5 percent this week, down 14.2 percent this month, down 17.4 percent this year, and down 19 percent year-over-year;

Gamco (GBL, $425.286 million market cap), down 9.4 percent this week, down 4.2 percent this month, down 18.7 percent this year, and down 22.5 percent year-over-year;

Affiliated Managers Group (AMG, $3.956 billion market cap), down 9.6 percent this week, up 0.9 percent this month, down 4.9 percent this year, and down 26 percent year-over-year;

Franklin Resources (dba Franklin Templeton) (BEN, $11.25 billion market cap), down 10.2 percent this week, down 10.5 percent this month, down 12.9 percent this year, and down 28.4 percent year-over-year; and

WisdomTree (WETF, $647.451 million market cap), down 17.8 percent this week, down 0.3 percent this month, down 13.2 percent this year, and down 44.5 percent year-over-year.