Here's why these top brokers reckon the Magellan (ASX:MFG) share price is cheap

Could Magellan shares still be a buy today?

Sebastian Bowen

Author Bio Sebastian Bowen has been a Motley Fool contributor since late 2018. Sebastian found his passion for writing and educating others about shares and all things finance after completing his studies in political, economic and social science and enjoys bringing this passion to life at the Fool. His investment philosophy is a simple one – buying high-quality companies at prices that make sense. When he’s not researching his next investment at all hours of the morning, Sebastian enjoys classic movies and likes to unwind with a good book, newspaper or record. Areas of Expertise Dividend investing ETFs Education Bachelor of Political, Economic, and Social Sciences (Government and International Relations), University of Sydney Social Media X/Twitter Favorite Investment Quote "In the short run, the market is a voting machine, but in the long run, it is a weighing machine." – Benjamin Graham

Published October 8, 2021 1:11 pm AEDT

The Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG) sahre price is having a pretty happy day this Friday. Magellan shares are, at the time of writing, trading at $33.55 each, up a healthy 4.48% so far today.

But if we put that in just a little bit of context, it doesn't look quite as good as it might seem. It was only yesterday that Magellan, one of the ASX's largest fund managers, hit a new 52-week low of $31.34 a share. That's the lowest Magellan shares have been since early 2019.

This descent into these new lows seemed to have been sparked by Magellan's latest funds under management (FUM) report. On Wednesday this week, Magellan announced that its FUM for the quarter ending 30 September (the first quarter of FY2022) came in at $113.3 billion.

That was a decline of roughly $600 million from where it stood at the start of the quarter. It also represented a fall of $4.7 billion from where Magellan's FUM was at the end of August.

This obviously wasn't good news for the company, and investors seemed to have reacted accordingly.

But now that Magellan shares are sitting just a few percentage points off of their new 52-week low, some investors might be wondering if this is a sitting bargain.

Well, we have some insights on that question today.

A young boy in a business suit giving thumbs up with piggy banks and coin piles demonstrating dividends and ex-dividend day approaching. — Image source: Getty Images

Could the Magellan share price be a buy today?

As my Fool colleague James covered yesterday, the Magellan share price is looking attractive to the broker Macquarie. Macquarie has retained an 'outperform' rating on Magellan shares, albeit with a reduced 12-month share price target of $38. That still implies a potential 12-month upside of close to 15%.

Although, as we covered yesterday, Macquarie is still worried that Magellan's FUM will remain under pressure for at least the rest of FY22, it still thinks the shares are "too cheap to ignore" right now. Macquarie is also eyeing the possibility of a dividend yield of 7% or so in FY22.

Macquarie isn't the only broker bullish on Magellan either. According to reporting in today's Australian Financial Review (AFR), another leading broker sees an even more optimistic 70% upside for the company.

At the current Magellan share price of $33.4, this company has a market capitalisation of $6.19 billion, a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 23.13 and a dividend yield of 6.32%.

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