our institutional channel includes corporate , public defined benefit plans , public defined contribution pension plans and taft-hartley trusts , endowments and foundations , sovereign wealth funds , healthcare , insurance companies as well as other financial institutions that access our investment management services directly , through consultants or through other intermediaries . our revenue is derived from fees received from our clients , including fees for managing or subadvising client accounts as well as investment advisory , administration , distribution and service fees received from company-sponsored open-end and closed-end funds . our fees are based on contractually specified rates applied to the value of the assets we manage and , in certain cases , investment performance . our revenue fluctuates with changes in the total value of our assets under management , which may occur as a result of market appreciation and depreciation , contributions or withdrawals from client accounts , foreign currency fluctuations and distributions . this revenue is recognized over the period that the assets are managed . a majority of our revenue , approximately 92.1 % , 91.8 % and 91.1 % for the years ended december 31 , 2019 , 2018 and 2017 , respectively , was derived from investment advisory and administration fees for providing asset management services to institutional accounts as well as open-end funds and closed-end funds sponsored by the company . 16 assets under management by investment vehicle replace_table_token_2_th _ ( 1 ) amounts have been recast to include model-based portfolios which were previously classified as assets under advisement . 17 assets under management - institutional accounts by account type replace_table_token_3_th _ ( 1 ) amounts have been recast to include model-based portfolios which were previously classified as assets under advisement . 18 assets under management by investment strategy replace_table_token_4_th _ ( 1 ) amounts have been recast to include model-based portfolios which were previously classified as assets under advisement . 19 assets under management by investment strategy - continued replace_table_token_5_th _ ( 1 ) amounts have been recast to include model-based portfolios which were previously classified as assets under advisement . 20 investment performance as of december 31 , 2019 _ ( 1 ) past performance is no guarantee of future results . outperformance is determined by comparing the annualized investment performance of each investment strategy to the performance of specified reference benchmarks . investment performance in excess of the performance of the benchmark is considered outperformance . the investment performance calculation of each investment strategy is based on all active accounts and investment models pursuing similar investment objectives . for accounts , actual investment performance is measured gross of fees and net of withholding taxes . for investment models , for which actual investment performance does not exist , the investment performance of a composite of accounts pursuing comparable investment objectives is used as a proxy for actual investment performance . the performance of the specified reference benchmark for each account and investment model is measured net of withholding taxes , where applicable . this is not investment advice and may not be construed as sales or marketing material for any financial product or service sponsored or provided by cohen & steers . ( 2 ) © 2020 morningstar , inc. all rights reserved . the information contained herein : ( 1 ) is proprietary to morningstar and or its content providers ; ( 2 ) may not be copied or distributed ; and ( 3 ) is not warranted to be accurate , complete , or timely . neither morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information . morningstar calculates its ratings based on a risk-adjusted return measure that accounts for variation in a fund 's monthly performance ( including the effects of sales charges , loads , and redemption fees ) , placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance . the top 10 % of funds in each category receive five stars , the next 22.5 % receive four stars , the next 35 % receive three stars , the next 22.5 % receive two stars and the bottom 10 % receive one star . past performance is no guarantee of future results . based on independent rating by morningstar , inc. of investment performance of each cohen & steers-sponsored open-end u.s.-registered mutual fund for all share classes for the overall period at december 31 , 2019. overall morningstar rating is a weighted average based on the 3-year , 5-year and 10-year morningstar rating . each share class is counted as a fraction of one fund within this scale and rated separately , which may cause slight variations in the distribution percentages . this is not investment advice and may not be construed as sales or marketing material for any financial product or service sponsored or provided by cohen & steers . changes in assets under management - 2019 compared with 2018 assets under management at december 31 , 2019 increased 24.8 % to $ 72.2 billion from $ 57.9 billion at december 31 , 2018 . the increase was due to net inflows of $ 3.7 billion and market appreciation of $ 14.6 billion , partially offset by distributions of $ 4.0 billion . net inflows included $ 2.7 million into preferred securities and $ 1.9 billion into u.s. real estate , partially offset by net outflows of $ 676 million from large cap value ( which is included in “ other ” in the table on pages 19-20 ) . market appreciation included $ 7.3 billion from u.s. real estate , $ 2.9 billion from global/international real estate , $ 2.4 billion from preferred securities and $ 1.5 billion from global listed infrastructure . distributions included $ 2.9 billion from u.s. real estate and $ 597 million from preferred securities . story_separator_special_tag general and administrative expenses for the year ended december 31 , 2019 decreased primarily due to expenses of approximately $ 871,000 associated with the evaluation of a potential business transaction that the company did not pursue that were included in the year ended december 31 , 2018 , partially offset by costs associated with the cohen & steers quality income realty fund , inc. rights offering of approximately $ 346,000 as well as higher professional fees of approximately $ 100,000 for the year ended december 31 , 2019 . operating margin operating margin for the year ended december 31 , 2019 increased to 39.0 % from 38.6 % for the year ended december 31 , 2018 . operating margin represents the ratio of operating income to operating revenue . non-operating income ( loss ) replace_table_token_9_th _ ( 1 ) amounts included income of $ 12.4 million and loss of $ 4.4 million attributable to third-party interests for the years ended december 31 , 2019 and 2018 , respectively . for the year ended december 31 , 2019 , the company 's share of non-operating income from seed investments was $ 12.7 million , approximating a return of 19.0 % . for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , the company 's share of non-operating loss from seed investments was $ 4.8 million , approximating a return of ( 6.9 ) % . income taxes replace_table_token_10_th the effective tax rate for the year ended december 31 , 2019 differed from the u.s. federal statutory rate of 21.0 % primarily due to state , local and foreign taxes , partially offset by the reversal of certain liabilities associated with unrecognized tax benefits , the release of a portion of the valuation allowance associated with unrealized gains on the company 's seed investments and the effects related to the delivery of restricted stock units . the effective tax rate for the year 26 ended december 31 , 2018 differed from the u.s. federal statutory rate of 21.0 % primarily due to state , local and foreign taxes , partially offset by the reversal of certain liabilities associated with unrecognized tax benefits , tax effects related to the delivery of restricted stock units and an adjustment to the company 's transition tax liability in connection with the tax cuts and jobs act ( the tax act ) . 2018 compared with 2017 revenue ( 1 ) replace_table_token_11_th _ ( 1 ) amounts related to model-based portfolios were reclassified from other ( previously reported as portfolio consulting and other ) to investment advisory and administration fees . revenue for the year ended december 31 , 2018 increased 0.6 % primarily due to a favorable change in the fee mix . for the year ended december 31 , 2018 : total investment advisory revenue compared with average assets under management in institutional accounts implied an annual effective fee rate of 36.1 bps and 33.8 bps for the years ended december 31 , 2018 and 2017 , respectively . the increase in the annual effective fee rate reflected net outflows from lower fee paying accounts . total investment advisory and administration revenue compared with average assets under management in open-end funds implied an annual effective fee rate of 69.3 bps and 69.6 bps for the years ended december 31 , 2018 and 2017 , respectively . total investment advisory and administration revenue compared with average assets under management in closed-end funds implied an annual effective fee rate of 85.7 bps and 84.2 bps for the years ended december 31 , 2018 and 2017 , respectively . the net increase in the annual effective fee rate reflected the full-year effect of the realignment of administration fee rates across our mutual fund complex , which was approved by the mutual fund board of directors in june 2017 and became effective on october 1 , 2017. expenses replace_table_token_12_th employee compensation and benefits for the year ended december 31 , 2018 increased primarily due to higher salaries of $ 3.3 million , higher amortization of restricted stock units of $ 2.1 million and incentive compensation of $ 1.9 million , partially offset by lower production compensation of $ 1.1 million . distribution and service fees expense for the year ended december 31 , 2018 decreased primarily due to a continued shift in the composition of assets under management into lower cost share classes . general and administrative expenses for the year ended december 31 , 2018 increased primarily due to higher research and market data expenses of approximately $ 1.2 million , higher recruiting fees of approximately $ 791,000 , and expenses of 27 approximately $ 511,000 associated with the evaluation of a potential business transaction that we did not pursue . in addition , the year ended december 31 , 2017 included refunds of foreign withholding taxes related to prior years of approximately $ 1.3 million . operating margin operating margin for the year ended december 31 , 2018 decreased to 38.6 % from 40.9 % for the year ended december 31 , 2017 . operating margin represents the ratio of operating income to operating revenue . non-operating income ( loss ) replace_table_token_13_th _ ( 1 ) amounts included loss of $ 4.4 million and income of $ 547,000 attributable to third-party interests for the years ended december 31 , 2018 and 2017 , respectively . for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , the company 's share of non-operating loss from seed investments was $ 4.8 million , approximating a return of ( 6.9 ) % . for the year ended december 31 , 2017 , the company 's share of non-operating income from seed investments was $ 3.9 million , approximating a return of 6.1 % . income taxes replace_table_token_14_th the effective tax rate for the year ended december 31 , 2018 differed from the u.s. federal statutory rate of 21.0 % primarily due to state , local and foreign taxes , partially offset by the

cash flows our cash flows generally result from the operating activities of our business , with investment advisory and administration fees being the most significant contributor . 33 the table below summarizes cash flows : replace_table_token_20_th we expect that cash flows provided by operating activities will continue to serve as our principal source of working capital in the near future . in 2019 , cash and cash equivalents increased by $ 7.3 million , excluding the effect of foreign exchange rate changes . net cash provided by operating activities was $ 141.4 million . cash flows from operating activities primarily consisted of net income adjusted for certain non-cash items and changes in assets and liabilities . net cash provided by investing activities was $ 35.9 million , which included $ 89.6 million of proceeds from the sales and maturities of investments , partially offset by $ 50.9 million of investment purchases . sales and maturities of investments included maturities of u.s. treasury securities of $ 33.3 million and sales of company-sponsored funds of $ 37.3 million . purchases of investments included purchases of u.s. treasury securities of $ 32.9 million . net cash used in financing activities was $ 170.1 million , including dividends paid to stockholders of $ 162.7 million , which included a special dividend of $ 94.5 million paid on december 3 , 2019 , repurchases of common stock to satisfy employee withholding tax obligations on the vesting and delivery of restricted stock units of $ 10.4 million , as well as distributions to redeemable noncontrolling interests of $ 43.5 million , partially offset by contributions from redeemable noncontrolling interests of $ 45.7 million . in 2018 , cash and cash equivalents decreased by $ 98.7 million , excluding the effect of foreign exchange rate changes .


 Write a concise suspicious activity report of the following text delimited by triple backquotes. Return your response as a formal report which covers the key points highlighting the location,dates,entity names and account holder information in chronological order of the text.
     ```cash flows our cash flows generally result from the operating activities of our business , with investment advisory and administration fees being the most significant contributor . 33 the table below summarizes cash flows : replace_table_token_20_th we expect that cash flows provided by operating activities will continue to serve as our principal source of working capital in the near future . in 2019 , cash and cash equivalents increased by $ 7.3 million , excluding the effect of foreign exchange rate changes . net cash provided by operating activities was $ 141.4 million . cash flows from operating activities primarily consisted of net income adjusted for certain non-cash items and changes in assets and liabilities . net cash provided by investing activities was $ 35.9 million , which included $ 89.6 million of proceeds from the sales and maturities of investments , partially offset by $ 50.9 million of investment purchases . sales and maturities of investments included maturities of u.s. treasury securities of $ 33.3 million and sales of company-sponsored funds of $ 37.3 million . purchases of investments included purchases of u.s. treasury securities of $ 32.9 million . net cash used in financing activities was $ 170.1 million , including dividends paid to stockholders of $ 162.7 million , which included a special dividend of $ 94.5 million paid on december 3 , 2019 , repurchases of common stock to satisfy employee withholding tax obligations on the vesting and delivery of restricted stock units of $ 10.4 million , as well as distributions to redeemable noncontrolling interests of $ 43.5 million , partially offset by contributions from redeemable noncontrolling interests of $ 45.7 million . in 2018 , cash and cash equivalents decreased by $ 98.7 million , excluding the effect of foreign exchange rate changes .
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 Suspicious Activity Report : our institutional channel includes corporate , public defined benefit plans , public defined contribution pension plans and taft-hartley trusts , endowments and foundations , sovereign wealth funds , healthcare , insurance companies as well as other financial institutions that access our investment management services directly , through consultants or through other intermediaries . our revenue is derived from fees received from our clients , including fees for managing or subadvising client accounts as well as investment advisory , administration , distribution and service fees received from company-sponsored open-end and closed-end funds . our fees are based on contractually specified rates applied to the value of the assets we manage and , in certain cases , investment performance . our revenue fluctuates with changes in the total value of our assets under management , which may occur as a result of market appreciation and depreciation , contributions or withdrawals from client accounts , foreign currency fluctuations and distributions . this revenue is recognized over the period that the assets are managed . a majority of our revenue , approximately 92.1 % , 91.8 % and 91.1 % for the years ended december 31 , 2019 , 2018 and 2017 , respectively , was derived from investment advisory and administration fees for providing asset management services to institutional accounts as well as open-end funds and closed-end funds sponsored by the company . 16 assets under management by investment vehicle replace_table_token_2_th _ ( 1 ) amounts have been recast to include model-based portfolios which were previously classified as assets under advisement . 17 assets under management - institutional accounts by account type replace_table_token_3_th _ ( 1 ) amounts have been recast to include model-based portfolios which were previously classified as assets under advisement . 18 assets under management by investment strategy replace_table_token_4_th _ ( 1 ) amounts have been recast to include model-based portfolios which were previously classified as assets under advisement . 19 assets under management by investment strategy - continued replace_table_token_5_th _ ( 1 ) amounts have been recast to include model-based portfolios which were previously classified as assets under advisement . 20 investment performance as of december 31 , 2019 _ ( 1 ) past performance is no guarantee of future results . outperformance is determined by comparing the annualized investment performance of each investment strategy to the performance of specified reference benchmarks . investment performance in excess of the performance of the benchmark is considered outperformance . the investment performance calculation of each investment strategy is based on all active accounts and investment models pursuing similar investment objectives . for accounts , actual investment performance is measured gross of fees and net of withholding taxes . for investment models , for which actual investment performance does not exist , the investment performance of a composite of accounts pursuing comparable investment objectives is used as a proxy for actual investment performance . the performance of the specified reference benchmark for each account and investment model is measured net of withholding taxes , where applicable . this is not investment advice and may not be construed as sales or marketing material for any financial product or service sponsored or provided by cohen & steers . ( 2 ) © 2020 morningstar , inc. all rights reserved . the information contained herein : ( 1 ) is proprietary to morningstar and or its content providers ; ( 2 ) may not be copied or distributed ; and ( 3 ) is not warranted to be accurate , complete , or timely . neither morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information . morningstar calculates its ratings based on a risk-adjusted return measure that accounts for variation in a fund 's monthly performance ( including the effects of sales charges , loads , and redemption fees ) , placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance . the top 10 % of funds in each category receive five stars , the next 22.5 % receive four stars , the next 35 % receive three stars , the next 22.5 % receive two stars and the bottom 10 % receive one star . past performance is no guarantee of future results . based on independent rating by morningstar , inc. of investment performance of each cohen & steers-sponsored open-end u.s.-registered mutual fund for all share classes for the overall period at december 31 , 2019. overall morningstar rating is a weighted average based on the 3-year , 5-year and 10-year morningstar rating . each share class is counted as a fraction of one fund within this scale and rated separately , which may cause slight variations in the distribution percentages . this is not investment advice and may not be construed as sales or marketing material for any financial product or service sponsored or provided by cohen & steers . changes in assets under management - 2019 compared with 2018 assets under management at december 31 , 2019 increased 24.8 % to $ 72.2 billion from $ 57.9 billion at december 31 , 2018 . the increase was due to net inflows of $ 3.7 billion and market appreciation of $ 14.6 billion , partially offset by distributions of $ 4.0 billion . net inflows included $ 2.7 million into preferred securities and $ 1.9 billion into u.s. real estate , partially offset by net outflows of $ 676 million from large cap value ( which is included in “ other ” in the table on pages 19-20 ) . market appreciation included $ 7.3 billion from u.s. real estate , $ 2.9 billion from global/international real estate , $ 2.4 billion from preferred securities and $ 1.5 billion from global listed infrastructure . distributions included $ 2.9 billion from u.s. real estate and $ 597 million from preferred securities . story_separator_special_tag general and administrative expenses for the year ended december 31 , 2019 decreased primarily due to expenses of approximately $ 871,000 associated with the evaluation of a potential business transaction that the company did not pursue that were included in the year ended december 31 , 2018 , partially offset by costs associated with the cohen & steers quality income realty fund , inc. rights offering of approximately $ 346,000 as well as higher professional fees of approximately $ 100,000 for the year ended december 31 , 2019 . operating margin operating margin for the year ended december 31 , 2019 increased to 39.0 % from 38.6 % for the year ended december 31 , 2018 . operating margin represents the ratio of operating income to operating revenue . non-operating income ( loss ) replace_table_token_9_th _ ( 1 ) amounts included income of $ 12.4 million and loss of $ 4.4 million attributable to third-party interests for the years ended december 31 , 2019 and 2018 , respectively . for the year ended december 31 , 2019 , the company 's share of non-operating income from seed investments was $ 12.7 million , approximating a return of 19.0 % . for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , the company 's share of non-operating loss from seed investments was $ 4.8 million , approximating a return of ( 6.9 ) % . income taxes replace_table_token_10_th the effective tax rate for the year ended december 31 , 2019 differed from the u.s. federal statutory rate of 21.0 % primarily due to state , local and foreign taxes , partially offset by the reversal of certain liabilities associated with unrecognized tax benefits , the release of a portion of the valuation allowance associated with unrealized gains on the company 's seed investments and the effects related to the delivery of restricted stock units . the effective tax rate for the year 26 ended december 31 , 2018 differed from the u.s. federal statutory rate of 21.0 % primarily due to state , local and foreign taxes , partially offset by the reversal of certain liabilities associated with unrecognized tax benefits , tax effects related to the delivery of restricted stock units and an adjustment to the company 's transition tax liability in connection with the tax cuts and jobs act ( the tax act ) . 2018 compared with 2017 revenue ( 1 ) replace_table_token_11_th _ ( 1 ) amounts related to model-based portfolios were reclassified from other ( previously reported as portfolio consulting and other ) to investment advisory and administration fees . revenue for the year ended december 31 , 2018 increased 0.6 % primarily due to a favorable change in the fee mix . for the year ended december 31 , 2018 : total investment advisory revenue compared with average assets under management in institutional accounts implied an annual effective fee rate of 36.1 bps and 33.8 bps for the years ended december 31 , 2018 and 2017 , respectively . the increase in the annual effective fee rate reflected net outflows from lower fee paying accounts . total investment advisory and administration revenue compared with average assets under management in open-end funds implied an annual effective fee rate of 69.3 bps and 69.6 bps for the years ended december 31 , 2018 and 2017 , respectively . total investment advisory and administration revenue compared with average assets under management in closed-end funds implied an annual effective fee rate of 85.7 bps and 84.2 bps for the years ended december 31 , 2018 and 2017 , respectively . the net increase in the annual effective fee rate reflected the full-year effect of the realignment of administration fee rates across our mutual fund complex , which was approved by the mutual fund board of directors in june 2017 and became effective on october 1 , 2017. expenses replace_table_token_12_th employee compensation and benefits for the year ended december 31 , 2018 increased primarily due to higher salaries of $ 3.3 million , higher amortization of restricted stock units of $ 2.1 million and incentive compensation of $ 1.9 million , partially offset by lower production compensation of $ 1.1 million . distribution and service fees expense for the year ended december 31 , 2018 decreased primarily due to a continued shift in the composition of assets under management into lower cost share classes . general and administrative expenses for the year ended december 31 , 2018 increased primarily due to higher research and market data expenses of approximately $ 1.2 million , higher recruiting fees of approximately $ 791,000 , and expenses of 27 approximately $ 511,000 associated with the evaluation of a potential business transaction that we did not pursue . in addition , the year ended december 31 , 2017 included refunds of foreign withholding taxes related to prior years of approximately $ 1.3 million . operating margin operating margin for the year ended december 31 , 2018 decreased to 38.6 % from 40.9 % for the year ended december 31 , 2017 . operating margin represents the ratio of operating income to operating revenue . non-operating income ( loss ) replace_table_token_13_th _ ( 1 ) amounts included loss of $ 4.4 million and income of $ 547,000 attributable to third-party interests for the years ended december 31 , 2018 and 2017 , respectively . for the year ended december 31 , 2018 , the company 's share of non-operating loss from seed investments was $ 4.8 million , approximating a return of ( 6.9 ) % . for the year ended december 31 , 2017 , the company 's share of non-operating income from seed investments was $ 3.9 million , approximating a return of 6.1 % . income taxes replace_table_token_14_th the effective tax rate for the year ended december 31 , 2018 differed from the u.s. federal statutory rate of 21.0 % primarily due to state , local and foreign taxes , partially offset by the

