Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) — T. Rowe Price Group Inc., the money manager that has reported a profit every quarter since going public in 1986, said third-quarter earnings rose 12 percent as stock-market gains boosted assets.

Net income increased to $299.8 million, or $1.12 share, from $267.7 million, or $1, a year earlier, the Baltimore-based company said today in a statement. The company was expected to earn $1.15 based on a Bloomberg survey of six analysts.

T. Rowe Price has relied on individual retirement savers and rising stock-market valuations to bolster assets for much of the past year as it struggled with withdrawals by institutional clients. Before today, T. Rowe Price declined 8.1 percent for the year compared with a drop of 3.7 percent for the 18-member Standard & Poor's index of asset managers and custody banks.

"They have a lot of retirement money and those tend to be sticky assets," Greggory Warren, an analyst with Chicago-based Morningstar Inc. said in a telephone interview. Warren has a "buy" recommendation on the stock.

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