At least five firms in the U.S. mutual fund business are among the most environmentally friendly large, publicly traded companies in the U.S., according to an investing magazine's new list.

David A. Hunt PGIM President, CEO

Last month, the Barron's released their seventh annual list of the "100 Most Sustainable Companies." The list, powered by ESG fund firm Calvert Research and Management (part of Morgan Stanley Investment Management) was selected from amongst the 1,000 biggest publicly traded companies (excluding REITs), who were then scored on 230 ESG measures across 28 topics and five stakeholder categories: community, customers, employees, planet, and shareholders.

This year's winners included the following asset management industry players: Prudential Financial (parent of PGIM) at 39th; Franklin Resources (dba Franklin Templeton) at 50th (up from 73rd last year); Morningstar at 64th (up year-over-year from 76th); Affiliated Managers Group (AMG) at 76th (down Y/Y from 48th); and SEI at 95th.

Von Hughes, managing director and head of Calvert, lauds 2024's 100 winning firms for "successfully addressing the sustainability considerations material to improving long-term shareholder value." He notes that the list is built using Calvert's research system, which is designed to ID high performing stocks "that can be catalysts for change."

Lauren Foster, senior writer at Barron's, notes that many of the 100 winning companies on the 2024 list "delivered solid results for shareholders." As a group, they returned 19 percent, behind the S&P 500's 26 percent (which was driven by th "Magnificent Seven") but ahead of the 14 percent for the equal-weighted S&P 500 (which effectively strips out the influence of the Magnificent Seven.) 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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