BlackRock third-quarter profit rises eight percent on ETF gains

BlackRock Inc , the world's largest money manager, said third-quarter profit rose 8 percent as investors poured cash into its iShares line of exchange-traded funds.

New York-based BlackRock said on Wednesday net income totaled $642 million, or $3.65 per share, compared with $595 million, or $3.23 per share, a year earlier.

Excluding certain items, BlackRock earned $3.47 per share. On that basis, analysts, on average, expected $3.31, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Investors added $25 billion into the iShares funds in the third quarter, the firm's biggest ETF inflow in one quarter since 2009, BlackRock said.

On Monday, BlackRock unveiled a plan to cut fees on six iShares funds and introduce four new low-cost funds. The moves are intended to bolster iShares against lower-cost competitors like Vanguard Group and Charles Schwab Corp .

Total assets under management at BlackRock hit $3.67 trillion, up 3 percent during the quarter and up 10 percent from a year ago.

Shares of BlackRock closed at $189.97 on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. The shares have gained 7 percent so far this year, trailing the 16 percent gain in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index .

(Reporting by Aaron Pressman; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Jeffrey Benkoe)