BlackRock profit beats as ETFs attract more investments

BlackRock's profit was boosted by a $1.2 billion gain related to the recent enactment of the U.S. tax laws, and the company also raised its quarterly cash dividend by 15 percent.

A healthy equity market helped BlackRock's index-tracking ETFs to grow at a record pace in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31.

BlackRock said its iShares ETF business took in $54.8 billion in new money in the quarter, up from $49.3 billion a year earlier.

The New York-based company's net income surged to $2.3 billion, or $14.07 per share, from $851 million, or $5.13. per share, a year earlier.

Excluding the benefit from the new tax law, BlackRock earned $6.24 per share. Analysts on an average expected the company to earn $6.04 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company ended the quarter with $6.29 trillion in assets under management, up from managed assets of $5.98 trillion at the end of the third quarter.

Net investment in fixed-income securities totaled $42.95 billion. BlackRock attracted total "long-term" net flows of $102.93 billion in the quarterly period.

(Reporting by Diptendu Lahiri in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)