Moody's lowers Legg Mason view to negative

Moody's Investors Service said it affirmed Legg Mason, Inc.'s Baa1 senior unsecured debt rating and revised the outlook to negative from stable.

The outlook change reflects erosion of the company's market position due to persistent outflows, Moody's said, and the resulting negative impact on earnings and leverage.

While performance metrics for a number of key products are strong on three- and five-year bases, which are key benchmarks for institutional investors, investor outflows persist, the agency said.

The company also is facing competitive-position pressures with leverage that is higher than that of most of its asset-management peer group, Moody's said.

Partly mitigating these pressures is the company's strong liquidity, the agency added.

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