Jefferies Has Buy Rating On Legg Mason (LM)

Jefferies & Co. has a Buy rating and a $42 price target on shares of Legg Mason LM. In a note to clients, Jefferies writes, "LM will report March AUM on April 12 and quarterly earnings in early May. We estimate March AUM levels will decline modestly to $668.5B compared to $672.7B as of the end of February. The slightly reduced asset base reflects relatively flat equity and fixed income markets during March in addition to the previously disclosed staged monthly redemptions. Our F4Q11 estimate of $0.44 remains unchanged as asset levels are slightly below our previous forecast, but the mix of assets is more skewed to higher margin products. Our estimate also excludes the previously disclosed $15M in transition related costs." Shares of LM gained 11 cents yesterday to close at $36.09.