Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of T. Rowe Price Group Put Options (NASDAQ:TROW)

T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders purchased 2,489 put options on the company. This is an increase of 77% compared to the typical volume of 1,403 put options.

T. Rowe Price Group News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting T. Rowe Price Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Revenue and fundamentals: Q4 revenue of $1.93B topped consensus by a hair and rose ~6% year‑over‑year; the firm reported healthy profitability metrics (net margin ~28.9%, ROE ~19.9%), which supports cash flow and dividends. Press Release / Slide Deck
• Positive Sentiment: New product: T. Rowe launched an Actively Managed Innovation Leaders ETF, which could help long‑term AUM growth if it attracts flows. T. Rowe Price Introduces ETF
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor materials and call: Management released the press release, slide deck and a full earnings‑call transcript that provide detail on flows, expense trends and positioning — useful for parsing whether revenue growth is durable or driven by fees/markets. Earnings Call Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Top‑line context: Analysts had flagged AUM growth but also net outflows and expense pressure ahead of the print; Zacks and other previews outlined expectations and metric comparisons to help model near‑term earnings. Earnings Preview
• Negative Sentiment: EPS miss: Reported EPS of $2.44 slightly missed consensus ($2.46 / ~$2.47), which can trigger short‑term selling given market sensitivity to beats/misses. Earnings Miss Coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst action: Morgan Stanley trimmed its price target (from $128 to $123) and kept an equal‑weight call, a signal that may damp investor enthusiasm. Price Target Cut
• Negative Sentiment: Options activity: Unusually large put buying (roughly 2,489 puts, ~77% above average) suggests some traders are positioning for further downside or hedging. (No external link.)

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on T. Rowe Price Group from $115.00 to $116.00 in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Barclays reduced their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $102.00 to $101.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on T. Rowe Price Group from $117.00 to $115.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $85.00 to $86.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $104.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $106.92.

T. Rowe Price Group Stock Down 5.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:TROW traded down $5.26 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $97.40. The stock had a trading volume of 2,641,136 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,880,746. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $104.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $104.67. T. Rowe Price Group has a fifty-two week low of $77.85 and a fifty-two week high of $118.22. The company has a market capitalization of $21.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.53.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.46 by ($0.02). T. Rowe Price Group had a net margin of 28.89% and a return on equity of 19.95%. The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that T. Rowe Price Group will post 9.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other T. Rowe Price Group news, VP Arif Husain sold 4,260 shares of T. Rowe Price Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.96, for a total value of $434,349.60. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 47,102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,802,519.92. The trade was a 8.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On T. Rowe Price Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TROW. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 66.7% in the 2nd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 250 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 540.9% in the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 282 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in T. Rowe Price Group in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 120.0% during the second quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 319 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canton Hathaway LLC bought a new stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors own 73.39% of the company’s stock.

T. Rowe Price Group Company Profile

T. Rowe Price Group, Inc is a global investment management firm headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, founded by Thomas Rowe Price Jr. in 1937. The company provides a broad range of investment products and services for individual investors, financial intermediaries, retirement plan sponsors and institutional clients. Its offerings are built around active investment management and in-house research across equity, fixed income and multi-asset strategies, reflecting a long history as a research-driven asset manager.

The firm’s product lineup includes mutual funds, separate accounts, collective investment trusts, target-date and target-risk funds, and managed account solutions, as well as services for defined contribution and defined benefit retirement plans.