The biggest fund firms' net inflows climbed by 67.8 percent last month.

Mortimer J. "Tim" Buckley Vanguard President, CEO

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on May 2020 mutual fund and ETF flows, excluding money market funds and funds of funds. More specifically, this article focuses on the 27 firms (up from 26 in April) with more than $100 billion each in long-term fund AUM. 18 of those firms brought in net May inflows, from 11 in April.

Vanguard regained the lead last month, thanks to $7.526 billion in net May inflows, up from $347 million in April. Other big May inflows winners included: SSGA, $6.802 billion (down from $15.846 billion); J.P. Morgan (including Six Circles), $5.978 billion (up from $1.887 billion); BlackRock (including iSharesPimco, $2.812 billion (up from $346 million in net outflows).

Prudential's PGIM took the lead proportionately, with estimated net May inflows equivalent to 1.9 percent of its AUM, up from 1.7 percent in April. Other big May inflows winners included: Goldman Sachs, 1.8 percent (up from 0.5 percent in net outflows); J.P. Morgan, 1.7 percent (up from 0.5 percent); Lord Abbett, 1.3 percent (up from 0.4 percent in net outflows); and SSGA, 0.9 percent (down from 2.3 percent).

On the flip side, May was another tough month for DFA, which suffered an estimated $3.798 billion in net outflows, more than any other fund firm and up from $3.149 billion in April. Other big May outflows sufferers included: Dodge & Cox, $2.103 billion (up from $1.558 billion); T. Rowe Price, $2.017 billion (down from $2.39 billion); Franklin Templeton, $1.762 billion (down from $2.335 billion); and Manulife's John Hancock, $824 million (down from $859 million).

Proportionately, Dodge & Cox led the large fund firm outflows pack last month, with estimated net May outflows equivalent to 1.2 percent of its AUM, up from 0.9 percent in April. Other big May outflows sufferers included: DFA, 1 percent (up from 0.9 percent); John Hancock, 0.7 percent (roughly unchanged); Franklin Templeton, 0.6 percent (down from 0.8 percent); and American Century, 0.4 percent (down from negligible net inflows).

As a group, large fund firms brought in an estimated $31.779 billion in net May inflows, equivalent to about 0.2 percent of their combined AUM and accounting for 96.3 percent of net industry inflows. That's up from $18.938 billion in net April inflows.

Across the entire industry, the 763 fund firms tracked by the M* team brought in a combined $33.001` billion in net May inflows, equivalent to 0.17 percent of their combined AUM. (That's up from $16.388 billion in net April inflows.) Active funds brought in an estimated $17.995 billion in net May inflows (up from $21.202 billion in net April outflows), while passive funds brought in an estimated $15.006 billion in net May inflows (down from $37.598 billion in April).

Editor's Note: A prior version of this story gave the wrong total number of fund firms. The correct total is 763. 

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