The giant money manager BlackRock on Thursday reported strong fourth-quarter profits as new money flowed into a wide range of its investment products.
The company earned $841 million, or $4.86 a share in the fourth quarter, up from $690 million, or $3.93 a share a year ago. The quarterly earnings were significantly more than the $4.33 a share expected by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. The company’s total profit a share for all of 2013 jumped 22 percent, to $16.87, from a year earlier.
While BlackRock has been helped in recent quarters by strong interest in its popular exchange trade funds, in the fourth quarter the growth was more widespread, especially among the company’s retail customers. Investors showed a particular desire for the company’s stock products during a quarter when the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 shot up nearly 10 percent.
At a time when many investors are worried about a rise in interest rates and a slowdown in the bond market, BlackRock saw new money flowing into its actively-managed bond funds, which could be better placed to deal with rising rates. There was even more interest in flexible multi-asset products, which attracted $17 billion in new money in the quarter.
“Throughout the year we demonstrated the collective strength and stability of our diversified, multi-client platform,†the company’s chief executive, Laurence D. Fink, said in a statement. “We saw growth across all of our businesses.â€
Overall, the company’s assets under management grew $228 billion during the course of the fourth quarter and ended the year at a staggering $4.3 trillion â€" helping it keep its place as the world’s largest asset manager. BlackRock’s profits were helped by its growing operating margin, which rose 1.2 percent from a year earlier.
The company announced that it would use its profits to increase its quarterly dividend 15 percent, to $1.93.
