A Midwestern asset manager pulled ahead last year among midsized fund firms, according to the lateste data from the folks at a publicly traded investment research firm.

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

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on December 2024 mutual fund and ETF flows, excluding money market funds and funds of funds. (Other asset management products, like CITs and SMAs, are also not included.) More specifically, this article focuses on the 215 firms (up by four month-over-month from November 2024 and up by one year-over-year from December 2023) with between 10 and 99 long-term mutual funds and ETFs each.

Baird (including Strategas) took the lead last year, thanks to an estimated $20.443 billion in net 2024 inflows, up by $8.405 billion Y/Y from 2023. Other big 2024 inflows winners included: American Century's Avantis, $17.006 billion; Dodge & Cox, $12.503 billion (up by $9.078 billion Y/Y); Edward Jones' Bridge Builder, $9.041 billion (down by $3.332 billion Y/Y); and Pacer, $8.71 billion (down by $3.273 billion Y/Y).

Baird also kept the lead for a third quarter in a row, thanks to an estimated $6.442 billion in net inflows in the fourth quarter of 2024. Other big Q4 2024 inflows winners included: Tidal (including FundStrat and YieldMax), $4.391 billion; and Avantis, $4.194 billion.

And Baird also took the lead last month, thanks to an estimated $2.694 billion in net December 2024 inflows. Other big inflows winners included: Tidal, $2.203 billion; and Avantis, $1.918 billion.

On the flip side, Grayscale took the outflows lead last year among midsize fund firms, thanks to an estimated $23.801 billion in net 2024 outflows, a $23.809-billion net flows drop Y/Y from 2023. Other big 2024 outflows sufferers included: Harding Loevner, $5.285 billion (up by $1.588 billion Y/Y); Baron, $4.854 billion (up by $4.147 billion Y/Y); Valic, $3.698 billion (up by $1.247 billion); and DoubleLine, $3.304 billion (down by $1.088 billion).

Grayscale also led the midsize outflows pack for a fourth consecutive quarter, thanks to an estimated $1.836 billion in net Q4 2024 outflows. Other big outflows sufferers included: Harding Loevner, $1.179 billion; and Brinker Capital's Destinations Funds, $1.08 billion.

And Grayscale also took the outflows lead last month, thanks to an estimated $1.392 billion in net December 2024 outflows. Other big outflows sufferers included: Brown Advisory, $708 million; and Tuttle Capital Management, $602 million.

As a group, midsize fund firms brought in $6.497 billion in net December 2024 inflows, accounting for 6.7 percent of overall industry inflows. (That's up by $1.086 billion M/M and up by $9.062 billion Y/Y.) As of December 31, 2024, midsize firm were 26.7 percent of the industry's fund firms and held $1.816 trillion (down by $3 billion M/M, up by $265 billion Y/Y) across 6,119 long-term funds and ETFs (up by 18 M/M and up by 280 Y/Y).

In Q4 2024, midsize firms brought in $21.246 billion in net inflows, accounting for 7.2 percent of industry inflows. For all of 2024, midsize firms brought in $56.57 billion in net inflows, accounting for 7.8 percent of industry inflows.

Across the whole industry, the 806 firms (up by eight M/M and up by 24 Y/Y) tracked by the M* team brought in $96.918 billion in net December 2024 inflows. (That's down by $17.967 billion M/M but up by $14.112 billion Y/Y). As of December 31, 2024, the industry had $30.547 trillion in AUM (down by $879 billion M/M but up by $4.02 trillion Y/Y) across 43,342 long-term mutual funds and ETFs (up by 296 M/M and up by 919 Y/Y).

In Q4 2024, the industry brought in $293.69 billion in net inflows, up by $130.032 billion Q/Q). For all of 2024, the industry brought in $723.43 billion in net inflows (up by $640.924 billion Y/Y). 

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