A midwestern fund firm led the mid-size pack yet again.

Mary Ellen Bolger Stanek Robert W. Baird & Co. Managing Director, Director of Asset Management

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on May 2019 open-end mutual fund and ETF flows, excluding money-market funds and funds of funds. More specifically, this article focuses on the 78 firms with between $10 billion and $100 billion each in fund AUM. Only 23 of those firms gained net inflows in May.

Baird held the pole position for a third month in a row, with estimated net May inflows of $1.33 billion, down from $1.898 billion in April. Other big May winners included: Goldman Sachs, $1.128 billion (up from $108 million); Morgan Stanley, $956 million (up from $440 million); DoubleLine, $811 million (down from $857 million); and TCW (including MetWest), $468 million (up from $133 million in net outflows).

Proportionately, Rafferty's Direxion led the mid-size pack, with estimated net May inflows equivalent to 3.59 percent of its AUM, up from 0.73 percent in net April outflows. Other big May winners included: Akre, 2.2 percent (up from 1.95 percent); Mirae (including Global X), 2.1 percent (down from 3.02 percent); Morgan Stanley, 2 percent (up from 0.92 percent); and Baird, 1.99 percent (down from 3.44 percent).

On the flip side, May was a rough month for AQR, which suffered an estimated $797 million in net outflows, more than any other mid-size fund firm but down from 1.138 billion in April. Other big May sufferers included: Harris' Oakmark, $768 million (down from $2.453 billion); Ivy, $647 million (down from $742 million); DWS, $631 million (up from $310 million); and First Eagle, $513 million (down from $586 million).

Proportionately, Gamco led the mid-size outflows pack last month, suffering estimated net May outflows equivalent to 4.44 percent of its AUM, up from 1.09 percent in April. Other big May sufferers included: AQR, 3.42 percent (down from 4.56 percent); William Blair, 2.25 percent (up from 1.98 percent); AIG, 1.71 percent (up from 1.69 percent); and Matthews Asia, 1.4 percent (up from 0.46 percent).

As a group, the 78 mid-size fund firms suffered an estimated $4.297 billion in combined net outflows, equivalent to about 0.15 percent of their combined (and accounting for 233.15 percent of net industry outflows)! Mid-size outflows fell from $10.608 billion in April.

Across the whole industry (M* tracks flows from 778 firms), long-term mutual funds and ETFs suffered a combined $1.843 billion in estimated net outflows in May, equivalent to 0.01 percent of industry AUM. That's down from $51.004 billion in net April inflows. Passive funds brought in $96 million in net May inflows, while active funds suffered $1.939 billion in net outflows. 

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