Federated Investors Inc.'s fourth-quarter profits from continuing operations increased 3.3% from a year earlier, to $53.1 million, or 51 cents a share, on stronger market conditions and an acquisition.
The results, which Pittsburgh investment manager announced Thursday, beat the average estimate of Wall Street analysts by 3 cents, according to data from Thomson Financial.
Assets under management rose 11%, to $237.4 billion.
J. Christopher Donahue, Federated's president and chief executive officer, said in a conference call Friday that strong equity market conditions in the second half of last year, the acquisition of an 89% stake in the Cambridge, Mass., firm MDTA LLC, and improved performance in some equity products led to strong returns last year.
Federated announced this month that it has acquired the remaining outstanding equity shares in MDTA.
