T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) Receives Average Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) has earned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $94.09.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on TROW shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $89.00 to $80.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $94.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $116.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th.

Insider Buying and Selling at T. Rowe Price Group

In related news, insider Jessica M. Hiebler sold 968 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.98, for a total transaction of $93,876.64. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,319,994.78. This represents a 6.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert F. Maclellan sold 3,955 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.56, for a total transaction of $362,119.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 42,979 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,935,157.24. This represents a 8.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of TROW. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 0.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,286,393 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,414,931,000 after buying an additional 222,556 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 7.2% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,706,251 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $707,973,000 after buying an additional 519,075 shares in the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co lifted its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 6,052,469 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $684,474,000 after buying an additional 425,142 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,631,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $635,260,000 after buying an additional 116,231 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 43.2% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,433,684 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $315,453,000 after buying an additional 1,035,865 shares in the last quarter. 73.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

T. Rowe Price Group Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of T. Rowe Price Group stock opened at $94.28 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $90.71 and a 200-day moving average of $103.49. T. Rowe Price Group has a 1-year low of $77.85 and a 1-year high of $125.81. The company has a market cap of $20.77 billion, a PE ratio of 10.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.49.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The asset manager reported $2.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.13 by $0.10. T. Rowe Price Group had a net margin of 29.61% and a return on equity of 20.83%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.38 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that T. Rowe Price Group will post 9.29 earnings per share for the current year.

T. Rowe Price Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a $1.27 dividend. This represents a $5.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. T. Rowe Price Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.60%.

About T. Rowe Price Group

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.