AllianceBernstein had $443.2 billion in assets under management as of March 31, a 3.1% increase from three months earlier and a 5.8% gain from the first quarter of 2011.
Institutional AUM totaled $225.1 billion; with $150.4 billion managed for retail clients and $67.7 billion for private clients, according to AllianceBernstein's first-quarter earnings release issued Wednesday.
Total net inflows for the latest quarter were $2.6 billion vs. $5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012. Net institutional inflows in the latest quarter were $3.3 billion, compared with $2.9 billion in the fourth quarter. Net retail inflows of $200 million were down from $5.3 billion in the previous quarter, while net outflows for private clients were $900 million, compared to net outflows of $3.2 billion in the quarter ended Dec. 31.
Net revenues for the first quarter were $709 million, up 1% from the quarter ended Dec. 31 and 4% higher than the year-ago quarter.
AllianceBernstein's net income for the first quarter was $113 million, compared with $69.4 million in the fourth quarter and $94.5 million in the first quarter of 2012.
“Gross sales were up 31% from the same period last year, net flows were positive for the second consecutive quarter, and we once again reduced our expenses and expanded our adjusted operating margin,” said Peter Kraus, chairman and CEO, in a news release. “In this environment, momentum continued to build in our (institutional) channel, where gross sales nearly doubled year-over-year and net inflows increased by 14% sequentially.”
William Katz, analyst at Citi Research, wrote in a note to clients that “management is making good progress in rounding out the franchise, expanding newer strategies, stemming private client attrition, and reinvigorating gross sales trends, which should set the stage for further flow improvement as 2013 unfolds.”
