Shares of BlackRock Inc (NYSE:BLK), the world’s largest asset manager, tumbled Tuesday in premarket trade after it posted a stronger profit in the third quarter, but reported more than $3 billion in net outflows.
Investors took $17.26 billion out of BlackRock equity products. According to The Wall Street Journal the asset manager reported $3.11 billion in net outflows for the quarter, compared with the $96.11 billion in net inflows it had for the comparable quarter a year ago.
BlackRock stock fell 3.2% to $413.50.
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Institutional investors pulled out $30.85 billion from non-ETF index funds, which BlackRock Chief Executive Laurence Fink attributed to “de-risking associated with ongoing divergent monetary policy and geopolitical uncertainty.”
“We’re seeing more and more clients just pausing,” Fink said in an interview, “and trying to get their long-term views recalibrated.”
For the quarter ended September 2018, the asset manager posted earnings of $7.52 per share on revenue of $3.6 billion. The consensus earnings estimate was $6.93 per share on revenue of $3.7 billion so revenue fell below what analysts were anticipating.
Contact Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
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