OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — TD Ameritrade said Tuesday that its fiscal first-quarter net income grew 5 percent and its revenue was almost unchanged as the online brokerage's trading activity slowed amid worries about the economy.

The Omaha-based company posted $152 million in net income, or about 27 cents per share, in the October-December quarter. That's up from $145 million, or 25 cents per share, in the same quarter in 2010, and topped the 26 cents per share profit that analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting.

Revenue fell less than 1 percent to $653.4 million from $656.2 million. Analysts expected higher revenue of $671.5 million.

One of the key drivers of Ameritrade's revenue is the fees it charges for transactions it handles. The average number of trades per day dipped to 367,479 from 371,916 in the same period a year earlier. In the July-September quarter, there was an average of 415,739 trades per day.

Ameritrade also makes money from fees based on clients' assets, but the current low interest rates are limiting what TD Ameritrade earns on its clients' deposit accounts and other investment products.

Ameritrade said its net new assets grew 11 percent to $10.2 billion from $9.7 billion. The total client assets Ameritrade holds grew 7 percent to $406.3 billion at the end of the quarter from $386.4 billion.

"We remain focused on maintaining this organic growth momentum, keeping our expenses in check and using our strong balance sheet and free cash flow to take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves," said Fred Tomczyk, Ameritrade's president and CEO.

Ameritrade said it spent about $107 million during the quarter to repurchase 6.7 million shares of its own stock, and plans to pay a dividend of 6 cents per share in February.