UPDATE: Jefferies Raising Price Target On Affiliated Managers Group (AMG)

Jefferies & Co. is raising its price target on shares of Affiliated Managers Group AMG to $126 from $117, and it has a Buy rating on shares. In a note to clients, Jefferies writes, "Emerging markets, which had been a strong tailwind for any firm with exposure, reversed course during the early portion of 1Q11. Specifically, the MSCI EMF Index was down 1.7% in Jan and 0.9% in Feb before rallying almost 6% in March. The firm with the greatest exposure to emerging markets in our coverage universe is AMG. The company's affiliates such as Genesis (100%), Harding Loevner, and Trilogy all have significant exposure. So while 4Q10 EOP AUM was approx. 7% above the average AUM reported in the period, the blended performance for the funds in the quarter was slightly negative. As a result we are decreasing our 1Q11 EPS estimate by $0.03 to $1.58, but our full year 2011 and 2012 estimates remain unchanged. In addition, we are modestly increasing our 1Q11 fund flow estimate to $5.0B from $4.5B." Shares of AMG gained 93 cents yesterday to close at $109.37, a gain of 0.86%.