BlackRock assets under management jump to record $9.5-trillion

New York  — BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday as investors poured more money into the company’s funds, driving robust fee growth and boosting its assets under management to a record high.

BlackRock's assets under management jumped to a record $9.49-trillion in the second quarter from $7.32-trillion a year earlier.

“More than ever, our voice is resonating deeper and more broadly with our clients worldwide,” BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said in an interview.

The company continued to gather assets at a robust pace as investors deployed money across BlackRock’s product types and asset classes.

Global equity markets’ strength during the second quarter helped boost both assets under management as well as fee growth.

The US economy displayed signs of a recovery over the past quarter, helped by large government stimulus and steady vaccination programmes. Global financial market continue to display strength a year after the coronavirus pandemic crashed asset prices and hurt risk sentiment.

“It seems like everything is going their way right now. It's just strength across the entire platform,” said Kyle Sanders, an analyst with financial services firm Edward Jones.

Net inflows for the quarter stood at $81bn, driven by higher investments in BlackRock’s various funds, including its exchange traded funds.

That figure is well below $81bn, but well below the $172bn record set in the prior quarter, with most of the decline due the loss of a $58bn equity index mandate from a US pension fund client, Sanders said.

“Despite them having $9.5-trillion and being so big, they are still best positioned to deliver the best growth over the next couple of years, relative to their peers,” Sanders said.

The company’s adjusted net income rose to $1.55bn, or $10.03 per share, in the three months ended June 30, from $1.21bn, or $7.85 per share, a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of $9.46 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Revenue rose 32% to $4.82bn, helped by higher performance fees and 14% growth in revenue from technology services.

BlackRock’s shares, which hit a record high on Monday, ahead of the results, rose 16% during the quarter ended June 30, compared with a 15% gain for a Thomson Reuters index that includes more than a dozen of BlackRock’s industry rivals in the US.

BlackRock shares were down about 2% in trading before the bell on Wednesday.

Reuters