By Ulrike Dauer 

FRANKFURT--Investors put money into U.S. fund manager Pacific Investment Management Co. in third quarter after three years of taking it out, boosting shares of parent company Allianz SE, Europe's largest insurer.

Pimco has been a trouble spot for Allianz ever since its co-founder, Bill Gross, abruptly left the firm in September 2014. His departure sparked an outflow of client money across its funds, including the flagship Total Return fund.

In the third quarter, Pimco saw its first quarterly net inflows since the second quarter of 2013, Allianz said on Friday. Pimco's net asset inflows amounted to EUR4.7 billion between July and September, compared with EUR16 billion in net outflows a year earlier.

While Pimco has on occasion shown a net inflow of funds on a monthly basis, investors have been awaiting a convincing reversal with quarterly net inflows.

This month Emmanuel Roman took over as chief executive at the fund manager, with a focus of loosening its dependence on the traditional bond market.

Allianz's net profit in the quarter ended Sept. 30 jumped 37% to EUR1.86 billion ($2.03 billion) boosted by the turnaround at the fund manager, known as Pimco, as well as lower disaster claims and improvements in its life and health insurance business. The result was considerably above an analysts' forecast of EUR1.56 billion and EUR1.36 billion posted in the year-earlier period.

Shares in Allianz rose more than 4% shortly after market open, leading the DAX index. At 0900 GMT, shares traded 3.3% higher at EUR153.70, with traders citing the Pimco news as the most important factor in the move.

"Particularly the fact that Pimco has finally managed to show net inflows again should be seen positively," said Philipp Hässler, an analyst with Equinet.

On a conference call, Allianz Chief Finanical Officer Dieter Wemmer cautioned that Pimco could still see net outflows in individual months.

"Sentiment at Pimco is very positive, but I don't think that from now on every month all figures will point upward," Mr. Wemmer said.

In light of political changes taking place in the U.S., he also warned that big customers could change their asset allocation in coming months.

Allianz also reported a 0.5% increase in revenue to EUR27.7 billion. Operating profit, the German insurer's main yardstick, rose 18% to EUR2.90 billion ($3.16 billion), well above analyst's forecast of EUR2.57 billion.

The insurer maintained its full-year operating profit guidance. It still expects operating profit of EUR10 billion to EUR11 billion for the full year.

Write to Ulrike Dauer at ulrike.dauer@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 11, 2016 05:10 ET (10:10 GMT)