The Platinum Asset Management Ltd (ASX: PTM) share price could be an interesting one to look at for dividend investors.
Platinum is a fund manager that targets global shares. It actually specialises in looking at Asian shares compared to other Aussie fund managers.
What happened today?
The fund manager has released its funds under management (FUM) update for March 2021. Over the month, its FUM fell by around $350 million to $24.5 billion.
Platinum experienced net outflows of approximately $206 million, which included net outflows from the Platinum Trust Funds of approximately $41 million and $99 million of the total net outflow related to one client rebalancing their portfolio.
How has it performed recently?
The Platinum share price has done very well since the end of October 2020, rising by 65% as the non-high-growth shares made a comeback after news of the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines. This helped Platinum’s FUM thanks to the performance of the portfolios that it manages.
In the half year result for FY21 to 31 December 2021, Platinum revealed that its average FUM was down compared to the prior corresponding period to $22.2 billion. Management fee revenue was down 12% in line with the reduced average FUM.
However, the company managed to reduce its expenses by 8% as it kept a lit on its expenditure. The lower costs, combined with ‘other income’ being up $27 million due to mark to market gains on seed investments, saw profit after tax rise by 14%.
What about the dividend?
Platinum decided to declare a dividend of $0.12 per share, which was a small reduction from the prior corresponding period.
That dividend brings the rolling 12 months of dividends to $0.23 per share, which equates to a fully franked dividend yield of 4.6% at the current Platinum share price. Not bad in this world of low interest rates. Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG) is another fund manager with a high dividend yield.
However, profit growth is key to be counted among the good ASX dividend shares in my opinion. FUM growth (and good performance for clients) over time is key. Platinum will need to deliver on profit growth to keep growing. I’ve got my eyes on other ideas for income for now.
