L.K. Benson & Company P.C. Trims Stake in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. $TROW

L.K. Benson & Company P.C. cut its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) by 14.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,203,485 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 195,266 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Group makes up approximately 41.3% of L.K. Benson & Company P.C.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. L.K. Benson & Company P.C. owned about 0.56% of T. Rowe Price Group worth $136,824,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in T. Rowe Price Group by 332.0% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 8,770,071 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $897,880,000 after buying an additional 6,740,172 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 126.5% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,280,854 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $335,894,000 after buying an additional 1,832,231 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group during the 4th quarter worth about $128,283,000. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $61,073,000. Finally, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec increased its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 81.0% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 1,306,922 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $134,142,000 after acquiring an additional 584,949 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.39% of the company’s stock.

T. Rowe Price Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:TROW opened at $111.30 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $113.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $102.60. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $85.22 and a fifty-two week high of $122.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.74 billion, a PE ratio of 11.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 1.47.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The asset manager reported $2.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. T. Rowe Price Group had a net margin of 29.26% and a return on equity of 20.91%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.24 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 10.13 earnings per share for the current year.

T. Rowe Price Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. T. Rowe Price Group’s dividend payout ratio is 52.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on TROW shares. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $108.00 to $103.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $106.00 to $103.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of T. Rowe Price Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Zacks Research raised shares of T. Rowe Price Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $115.00 price target (down from $120.00) on shares of T. Rowe Price Group in a report on Monday, August 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, T. Rowe Price Group currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $105.67.

About T. Rowe Price Group

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.