It's been an overwhelmingly positive day for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) so far this Wednesday. After the ASX 200 started the week off on a rather negative note over Monday and yesterday's trading, the index is currently up by a healthy 0.51%. But let's talk about the Australian Ethical Investment Ltd (ASX: AEF) share price.
Australian Ethical shares are having an interesting day. The funds management company and ASX 200 financials share initially lept higher this morning, rising as much as 4% to $3.67 a share soon after open. However, the shares have cooled off a bit since then, and are now going for $3.50 each, flat on yesterday's close.
So what's going on here?
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Why did the Australian Ethical share price spike 4% this morning?
Well, it seems that this share price spike that we saw this morning had something to do with the funds under management (FUM) update that Australian Ethical has just released.
This announcement revealed that Australian Ethical received $172 million in net fund inflows over the quarter ending 30 June 2023. That takes the company's total FUM to $9.2 billion. That's up from $8.77 billion at the end of the previous quarter ending 31 March and the $6.02 billion recorded on 30 June 2022. This figure represents a 48% growth metric for the full FY2023 year.
Over the June quarter, Australian Ethical received $190 million in superannuation member inflows, but its managed funds division saw a $20 million member outflow.
Market performance helped lift superannuation inflows by a further $170 million, while managed funds received a $100 million boost.
Australian Ethical managing director John McMurdo commented that "Australian Ethical was pleased to see further positive growth in investment performance and net inflows in June… with total FUM now at $9.20 billion, representing 48% growth for the full year".
So it seems investors were buoyed by this news this morning, which explains why the Australian Ethical share price got a 4% boost in early trading. As to why the shares have cooled off since is anyone's guess. Perhaps some investors were hoping to see a better showing from this ASX 200 fund manager.
As of today's pricing, the Australian Ethical share price remains down by 9.2% year to date and down 35.5% over the past 12 months.
The company currently has a market capitalisation of $395.3 million, with a dividend yield of 1.43%.
