Feb 5 (Reuters) - Asset manager T Rowe Price TROW.O missed Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday as capital outflows countered the gains from a rallying equities market.

Investors have been opting for the low-cost offerings of passively managed funds over active managers such as T Rowe, resulting in 15 consecutive quarters of capital outflows for the firm.

The Federal Reserve's 100-basis-point rate cuts in the later half of 2024 have boosted investor interest in passive offerings further, as it becomes harder for active managers to beat booming benchmark index returns.

The equity rally boosted Baltimore, Maryland-based company's average assets under management (AUM), which determine its investment advisory fees, by 19.2% to $1.64 trillion in the quarter, despite $19.3 billion of net outflows. Total net outflows for the year were $43.2 billion.

T Rowe's investment advisory fees, the primary driver of its revenue, rose 16.1% to $1.67 billion for the three months ended Dec. 31.

Adjusted profit rose to $484.8 million, or $2.12 per share, for the quarter, compared with analysts' expectations of $2.20 per share.

The company had posted an adjusted profit of $394.7 million, or $1.72 per share, a year earlier.

Peers Invesco IVZ.N and Franklin Templeton BEN.N beat profit estimates last week, helped by rising investment fees as their AUM expanded.

(Reporting by Ateev Bhandari in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas and Vijay Kishore)

((Ateev.Bhandari@thomsonreuters.com;))