Jefferies Positive On Invesco

Jefferies & Co. is out with a research report on investment managers, and Invesco Ltd. IVZ in particular. It has a Buy rating and a $29 price target on shares. In a note to clients, Jefferies & Co. writes, "We believe both IVZ and TROW should post improving fund flow trends q/q. For IVZ this trend has been highlighted in its monthly AUM releases for April and May. While likely deteriorating somewhat in June (AUM will be reported next Tues), we believe the company is positioned to show continued improvement in its flow trends as it just completed the fund consolidation process and investment performance remains solid. As for TROW, the retail channel got off to a strong start but has moderated subsequently ($1.9B in total flows thru May). Despite the "soft" finish, we believe total retail flows should improve q/q. In addition, the institutional channel should see more "normalized" flows at around $2.5B per quarter, following a lower than expected $1.4B in 1Q11. Lastly, we believe the company has finally started to buy back stock more aggressively this quarter." Shares of IVZ gained 62 cents yesterday to close at $23.90, a gain of 2.66%.