(Reuters) — Shares in Allianz S.E. jumped more than 5% on Friday after the German insurer promised bigger dividend payouts having posted a forecast-beating jump in third-quarter profit.

The surprise dividend move helped mollify shareholders worried about turmoil at asset management arm Pimco, where the defection of investment guru Bill Gross has unsettled clients, triggered record investor outflows and weighed on the unit's quarterly contribution to the group.

"Operating profit in asset management was still on a high level, but the high net outflows (of client funds) remain a concern," said DZ Bank analyst Thorsten Wenzel in a client note.

Allianz shares were trading up 4.7% by 1450 GMT after earlier rising as much as 5.4% to their highest in over a month, while the European sector was flat. The stock fell more than 7% following Mr. Gross's departure in late September and is still down 3.5% from before then.

In a statement issued after Thursday's Frankfurt stock market close, Europe's biggest insurer said it would pay out 50% of net profit in dividends versus 40% up to now.

Allianz had said it would review its dividend policy by year end after facing calls from investors to bring its dividend more into line with peers like Zurich Insurance Group Ltd., which pays out around 70% of net results.

"We were positively surprised by Allianz's commitment to not cut the dividend and to pay out every three years the unused portion of net profit that is normally dedicated to M&A (acquisitions)," LBBW analyst Werner Schirmer said in a note.

Analysts pressed Allianz on a call to see if there might be room to top up the dividend still further, perhaps by co-opting any unused funds from the budget for business development.

"Sometimes I have the feeling you guys are only stopping when we go to 100% payout," Chief Financial Officer Dieter Wemmer joked in reply to an analyst's question. "And nobody said any 'thank you' for the 50%."

Major European insurers also including Italy's largest insurer Generali are offering shareholders a bigger share of their earnings this year as a low level of payouts for damage claims has allowed them to build up large cash piles.

Elsewhere in the sector, shares in reinsurer Swiss Re Ltd. jumped on prospects for a higher payout on the back of higher than expected earnings.

Allianz's quarterly operating and net profit rose 5% and 11% respectively, beating the average forecasts in a Reuters poll of banks and brokerages for 2.4% and 6.7% increases.

Operating profit in property/casualty insurance and asset management were both ahead of average analyst expectations, but asset management still posted an 8% decline from the year-earlier quarter.

Pimco posted an outflow of $48.3 billion across its open-ended funds in October following the surprise departure of Mr. Gross, adding to the $25.5 billion of withdrawals the previous month, according to Morningstar data this week.

Mr. Gross, who co-founded Pimco in 1971 and built it into one of the largest investment firms in the world, managing $2 trillion of pension, endowment and retirement money, resigned on Sept. 26 to join rival Janus Capital Group Inc.

Allianz's asset management arm that Pimco dominates contributes roughly a quarter of group profit.

About 70% of Pimco's outflows in October stemmed from investors pulling money funds that had been managed by Mr. Gross.

"Net outflow ... after the resignation of Bill Gross is within our expectation," Mr. Wemmer said, declining to predict when and at what level assets under management would stabilize.

"We probably will have somewhere next spring a clear picture in which direction we go," Mr. Wemmer told analysts, adding that the Pimco brand would remain a "household name."

Revenue at Pimco fell 5.9% in the third quarter compared with the same period a year earlier, the company said.

Allianz also said it was in reach of earning €10.5 billion ($13.15 billion) in operating profit this year, the upper end of its target range. Quarterly net profit jumped to €1.6 billion ($2.0 billion) from €1.45 billion ($1.82 billion) in the year-earlier quarter, beating the €1.54 billion ($1.93 billion) average in the Reuters poll.