T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. $TROW Shares Sold by Shell Asset Management Co.

Shell Asset Management Co. cut its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) by 49.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,437 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 11,264 shares during the period. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in T. Rowe Price Group were worth $1,174,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in TROW. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its position in 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 period. Essex Bank increased its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 3.6% in the third quarter. Essex Bank now owns 2,914 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 4.8% in the third quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 2,249 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $231,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. Beacon Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 1.2% during the second quarter. Beacon Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,256 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $986,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Asset Strategies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 0.8% during the third quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 16,994 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,744,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.39% of the company’s stock.

T. Rowe Price Group Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of T. Rowe Price Group stock opened at $93.76 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $103.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $104.03. The stock has a market cap of $20.46 billion, a PE ratio of 10.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 1.53. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $77.85 and a 12-month high of $118.22.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.47 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. T. Rowe Price Group had a net margin of 28.53% and a return on equity of 20.36%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.12 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 9.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

T. Rowe Price Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be given a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 16th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.5%. This is a boost from T. Rowe Price Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. T. Rowe Price Group’s payout ratio is presently 54.92%.

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 dated Wednesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.96, for a total transaction of $434,349.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 47,102 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on TROW. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $108.00 to $106.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $123.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Bank of America boosted their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $85.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays set a $94.00 target price on T. Rowe Price Group in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $102.50.

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.