Tufton Capital Management Boosts Stake in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW)

Tufton Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) by 18.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,281 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 1,125 shares during the period. Tufton Capital Management’s holdings in T. Rowe Price Group were worth $784,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of TROW. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group during the 4th quarter valued at $208,014,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 8,968.6% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 902,146 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $97,152,000 after purchasing an additional 892,198 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,183,563 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,051,553,000 after purchasing an additional 625,340 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,342,735 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $364,559,000 after purchasing an additional 436,365 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 850.8% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 363,700 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $54,988,000 after purchasing an additional 325,449 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.39% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at T. Rowe Price Group

In other T. Rowe Price Group news, Director Freeman A. Hrabowski III sold 8,740 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.32, for a total value of $1,034,116.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,073 shares in the company, valued at $2,493,357.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Jessica M. Hiebler sold 1,138 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total value of $121,913.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,511,925.69. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Freeman A. Hrabowski III sold 8,740 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.32, for a total transaction of $1,034,116.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,493,357.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

T. Rowe Price Group Trading Down 1.1 %

TROW traded down $1.26 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $110.13. 735,056 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,384,370. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $114.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.40. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $87.43 and a 1-year high of $132.76.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. T. Rowe Price Group had a net margin of 27.69% and a return on equity of 18.41%. The business’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.74 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 8.13 EPS for the current year.

T. Rowe Price Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $1.24 dividend. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from T. Rowe Price Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. T. Rowe Price Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup increased their price objective on T. Rowe Price Group from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $94.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $114.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $100.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.67.

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.