The New York-based asset manager reported net income of $756 million (449 million pounds), or $4.40 per share, up from $632 million, or $3.62 per share, a year earlier.

Excluding certain long-term compensation expenses and other one-time items, earnings were $4.43 a share. On that basis, they beat analysts' average forecast of $4.11 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Of the $26.7 billion that investors poured into long-term funds during the quarter, roughly half came from retail investors, who accounted for $14 billion of long-term net inflows during the quarter. Retail fund assets at the end of March totalled $508.7 billion, representing 12 percent of total assets under management at the end of March.

Investors added more money than they withdrew across asset classes during the quarter, with fixed-income driving the bulk of the long-term net inflows during the quarter. Investors poured $15.6 billion into BlackRock's fixed-income funds and $3.8 billion into equity funds. They added $5 billion to multi-asset portfolios, while adding $2.3 billion to alternative funds.

BlackRock ended the quarter with total assets under management of $4.4 trillion, including new money and market gains. The company and its peers in the asset management industry make money by charging fees as a percentage of assets under management.

(Reporting by Ashley Lau in New York, Editing by Franklin Paul)