BlackRock's quarterly earnings beat Wall Street estimates

[NEW YORK] BlackRock Inc, the world's largest money manager, reported a higher-than-expected fourth-quarter profit as assets under management increased.

Net income fell to US$813 million, or US$4.77 per share, from US$841 million, or US$4.86 per share, a year earlier.

Excluding a compensation program associated with shareholder PNC Financial Services Group Inc, earnings were US$4.82 a share, beating the analysts' average estimate of US$4.68, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The New York-based company ended the fourth quarter with US$4.65 trillion in assets under management, up 8 per cent from a year earlier.

The firm had US$87.8 billion in net inflows for the quarter. Long-term net inflows for the year came to US$181.3 billion for an organic growth rate of 4.5 per cent, up from 3.5 per cent in 2013.

Of the US$87.8 billion that investors poured into BlackRock's long-term funds during the quarter, half went into the iShares exchange-traded fund business, which ended the quarter with US$1 trillion.

BlackRock's active retail business posted inflows of US$23 billion, ending the quarter with US$534.3 billion. The institutional business posted inflows of US$20.7 billion, ending the quarter with US$2.8 trillion.

REUTERS