By Kirsten Grind And Michael Calia
BlackRock Inc. said Thursday that it saw the highest investor
inflows in its history during 2014, but earnings fell more than 3%
in the most recent quarter as performance fees fell.
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, also raised its
dividend to $2.18 a share from $1.93, while boosting its
share-buyback program by 6 million shares under its existing plan
for a total of as many as 9.4 million shares.
Fourth quarter earnings topped analysts' expectations while
revenue fell short. Shares of the firm were inactive premarket.
The results "demonstrate the significant investments we have
made in recent years to build the depth and breadth of our global
platform," Laurence Fink, chairman and chief executive of
BlackRock, said in a statement.
BlackRock was expected to show that it has gained inflows as
investors pull money from Pacific Investment Management Co., whose
clients have been pulling money at a steady clip since star manager
Bill Gross left the firm in September to join Janus Capital Group
Inc.
During 2014, BlackRock saw $118 billion of inflows, up 55% from
the prior year and the strongest annual net inflows in the
company's history, according to an earnings release Thursday.
Assets under management rose about 8% to $4.65 trillion from a
year ago and about 3% from $4.52 trillion at the end of the
previous quarter.
The company's iShares exchange-traded-fund business had net
inflows of $44.2 billion, more than half coming from equity. Total
long-term net inflows were $87.8 billion, and retail inflows were
$23 billion.
For the quarter ended Dec. 31, the firm reported earnings of
$821 million, or $4.77 a share, down from $851 million, or $4.86 a
share, a year ago. Excluding certain items, earnings fell to $4.82
a share from $4.92.
Revenue rose slightly to $2.78 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had estimated $4.67 a share
in earnings and $2.87 billion in revenue.
Write to Kirsten Grind at kirsten.grind@wsj.com and Michael
Calia at michael.calia@wsj.com
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