Fund manager T Rowe Price Group said fourth-quarter profit rose 26 percent as assets increased on market appreciation and inflows.

For the three months ended December 31 it reported net income of $191.6 million, or 72 cents per share, up from $152.5 million, or 57 cents per share in the same period a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected the company to report net income of 69 cents per share on revenue of $638.7 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue came in at $647.5 million, T Rowe said. The company said its total assets under management reached a record of $482 billion at December 31, up $42.3 billion from where they stood on September 30. The increase was driven by $6.9 billion in net inflows of new money from investors, and $35.4 billion worth of market appreciation and income.

(Reporting by Ross Kerber, editing by Dave Zimmerman)