Norges Bank Makes New Investment in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. $TROW

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 1,253,007 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $128,283,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TROW. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 91.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 257 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its position in T. Rowe Price Group by 540.9% during the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 282 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the period. Canton Hathaway LLC bought a new stake in T. Rowe Price Group during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its stake in T. Rowe Price Group by 170.3% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 300 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 92.0% during the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 386 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. 73.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Zacks Research upgraded T. Rowe Price Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of T. Rowe Price Group in a report on Friday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on T. Rowe Price Group from $106.00 to $103.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $95.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $93.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, T. Rowe Price Group presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $99.54.

T. Rowe Price Group Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:TROW opened at $106.96 on Friday. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $85.22 and a 12-month high of $118.22. The company has a market cap of $22.92 billion, a PE ratio of 11.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.32 and a beta of 1.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $98.73 and a 200 day moving average of $99.26.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The asset manager reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.85 billion. T. Rowe Price Group had a net margin of 28.28% and a return on equity of 20.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.23 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 9.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

T. Rowe Price Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.9%. T. Rowe Price Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.73%.

Insider Transactions at T. Rowe Price Group

In other T. Rowe Price Group news, VP Stephon A. Jackson sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.56, for a total transaction of $307,680.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 83,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,603,040.48. This trade represents a 3.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

T. Rowe Price Group 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.