It's been about eight months since fixed-income guru Bill Gross abruptly left the fund firm he co-founded to join Janus Investments. Since Sept. 26, outflows from PIMCO "have been staggering," Morningstar analysts conclude in their latest report.
The firm's total assets under management dropped 15% from $1.88 trillion in September to $1.59 trillion as of March.
Furthermore, the flagship PIMCO Total Return Fund (PTTRX) shed about $180 billion in net assets from mid-2013 to May 2015, the research group says, with the bulk of redemptions stating in September 2014.
Redemptions from Total Return, along with the PIMCO Unconstrained Bond (PFIUX), PIMCO Low Duration (PTLDX) and PIMCO High Yield (PHIYX) funds, top $250 billion in estimated outflows from mid '13 to April 2015.
"Outflows peaked in October 2014 and continued at a heavy, if slowing, pace through the first part of 2015," explained Michael Herbst, director of fixed-income strategies for Morningstar, in a group report issued Thursday. "While PIMCO management notes redemptions from individual investors came quickly, it has seen a much longer tail of outflows from institutional accounts, including defined-contribution plans."
Still, the fund experts say they remain "cautiously optimistic" about PIMCO's future.
"We're encouraged at the progress the firm's leaders have made in stabilizing the investment team, fortifying the firm's culture, and continuing to invest in its research effort," Herbst and his colleagues said. "Yet, the situation is fluid amid continued outflows and an investment team still in the formative stages of jelling and reforging its identity. Team stability continues to weigh heavily in our assessment of whether PIMCO can succeed in the future."
Outflows from the Total Return Fund finally started to "slow meaningfully" in April and May, according to Morningstar, dropping to $7.6 billion and about $2.7 billion, respectively.
As for outflows from DC plans, PIMCO management team told Morningstar they were on the decline.
In addition, "Allianz also suggested in May that it expected PIMCO flows to turn positive by the end of 2015. That's consistent with what we've heard from other large fixed-income money managers who say the bulk of manager searches for defined-contribution plans are now complete," the Morningstar experts stated.
For its part, PIMCO said in early May that net flows for the Total Return Fund "continued to decline in April and were estimated at -$5.6 billion."
