Quartz Partners widens advisor access to quantitative SMA strategies

Quartz Partners Investment Management has expanded its core SMA model strategies onto Envestnet, Adhesion Wealth and Orion Communities, putting its Astra, Athena and Dynamic series in front of more financial advisors without forcing platform changes. The move broadens distribution for the Saratoga Springs-based firm as managed account adoption and advisor demand for differentiated models continue to grow.

Why it matters: - Quartz Partners is now available on three major managed account platforms that many advisors already use. - The expansion can make it easier for advisors to access quantitative SMA strategies without changing their workflow or re-papering accounts. - Quartz says the move increases the reach of its models across a substantial share of the U.S. advisor market.

What happened: - Quartz Partners Investment Management added its core suite of SMA model strategies to Envestnet, Adhesion Wealth and Orion Communities. - The firm said the launch gives advisors access to its Astra, Athena and Dynamic series on those platforms. - Quartz also said its strategies remain available on more than a dozen additional platforms and custodial programs, including Charles Schwab, Goldman Sachs, Apex, RBC, SmartX and Amplify. - Advisors can contact Quartz at LearnMore@QuartzPartners.com or 800.433.0422. - Strategy availability by platform, minimums and model details are available at the company’s website.

The details: - Quartz Partners is an SEC-registered investment adviser based in Saratoga Springs, New York. - The firm specializes in proprietary quantitative separately managed account strategies. - Envestnet says its technology and services are trusted by more than one-third of all financial advisors. - Adhesion Wealth, operated by AssetMark, provides registered investment advisors with a multi-custodian managed account platform and manager exchange. - Orion Communities is the open-architecture turnkey asset management program within Orion’s wealth technology platform. - Quartz said the Astra series uses a bottom-up multi-factor model and grades roughly 3,000 companies on economic profit margin. - Quartz said the Astra series builds focused 20-to-25-stock portfolios of durable, high-quality compounders. - Quartz said the Athena series uses a survivorship-bias-free behavioral finance dataset covering more than 250,000 securities and is backed by six patents. - Quartz said the Dynamic series uses the P.R.I.C.E. framework across more than 100 fundamental and technical data points. - Quartz said the Dynamic series seeks to allocate an unconstrained ETF portfolio and reduce risk exposure during protracted drawdowns. - The firm said its strategies are designed to be blended across the risk spectrum from Moderately Conservative through Aggressive. - Quartz works directly with advisors to build blended models mapped to a client’s risk profile. - Dr. C. Thomas Howard directs the firm’s quantitative research. - Howard is professor emeritus at the Reiman School of Finance, Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. - Howard taught and published in behavioral investment management and international finance for more than 30 years. - Howard wrote Behavioral Portfolio Management and The New Value Investing and co-authored Return of the Active Manager.

Between the lines: - Quartz is positioning itself as a boutique manager that can sit inside major advisor workflows rather than asking advisors to adopt a new operating system. - The firm is leaning on differentiated data sets and research depth to stand out in a crowded model marketplace. - The distribution push suggests Quartz wants broader advisor adoption without sacrificing the smaller-firm flexibility it presents as part of its appeal.

What's next: - Advisors interested in using Quartz strategies can review platform availability, minimums and model details on the firm’s website. - Quartz is likely to keep pursuing distribution through managed account platforms and custodial programs as it expands advisor access. - The firm’s next growth test is whether broader platform visibility translates into actual advisor adoption and asset gathering.