Wedbush Securities Inc. Acquires 475 Shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW)

Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) by 6.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 8,318 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in T. Rowe Price Group were worth $941,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd raised its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 31.9% during the 4th quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 3,580 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $405,000 after buying an additional 866 shares during the period. Aviva PLC increased its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 858.8% during the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 139,279 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $15,751,000 after acquiring an additional 124,752 shares in the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group during the fourth quarter worth $9,590,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in T. Rowe Price Group by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,638,867 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $185,340,000 after acquiring an additional 52,116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Somerville Kurt F acquired a new position in T. Rowe Price Group in the 4th quarter worth $204,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on TROW. Bank of America dropped their price target on T. Rowe Price Group from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $113.00 target price (up previously from $111.00) on shares of T. Rowe Price Group in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded T. Rowe Price Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $103.00 to $89.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, T. Rowe Price Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $108.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at T. Rowe Price Group

In other news, Director Robert F. Maclellan sold 3,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.56, for a total value of $362,119.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 42,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,935,157.24. The trade was a 8.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Arif Husain sold 4,112 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.27, for a total transaction of $449,318.24. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 36,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,021,136. This represents a 10.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

T. Rowe Price Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:TROW opened at $82.60 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $18.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $102.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $110.32. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a one year low of $78.58 and a one year high of $125.81.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.20 by ($0.08). T. Rowe Price Group had a net margin of 29.61% and a return on equity of 20.83%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.72 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 9.29 earnings per share for the current year.

T. Rowe Price Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $1.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from T. Rowe Price Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. This represents a $5.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.15%. T. Rowe Price Group’s payout ratio is 55.46%.

T. Rowe Price Group Profile

T. Rowe Price Group, Inc is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm provides its services to individuals, institutional investors, retirement plans, financial intermediaries, and institutions. It launches and manages equity and fixed income mutual funds. The firm invests in the public equity and fixed income markets across the globe.