T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” by Brokerages

T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) has earned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the sixteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and twelve have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $102.2308.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of T. Rowe Price Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of T. Rowe Price Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Evercore lowered their price target on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $116.00 to $106.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $105.00 to $107.00 in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $110.00 to $104.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 12th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other T. Rowe Price Group news, VP Arif Husain sold 4,260 shares of T. Rowe Price Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.96, for a total transaction of $434,349.60. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 47,102 shares in the company, valued at $4,802,519.92. The trade was a 8.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of T. Rowe Price Group

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 0.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,416,718 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,549,213,000 after acquiring an additional 130,325 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,510,271 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,400,241,000 after purchasing an additional 211,647 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 332.0% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 8,770,071 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $897,880,000 after purchasing an additional 6,740,172 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,073,846 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $826,600,000 after purchasing an additional 143,109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in T. Rowe Price Group by 3.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,014,236 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $578,059,000 after purchasing an additional 197,024 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.39% of the company’s stock.

T. Rowe Price Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:TROW opened at $94.63 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $101.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $103.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.64 billion, a PE ratio of 10.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 1.54. T. Rowe Price Group has a 12 month low of $77.85 and a 12 month high of $118.22.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.47 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.92 billion. T. Rowe Price Group had a return on equity of 20.29% and a net margin of 28.53%.T. Rowe Price Group’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.12 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that T. Rowe Price Group will post 9.29 EPS for the current year.

T. Rowe Price Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This is an increase from T. Rowe Price Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. T. Rowe Price Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.92%.

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.