Forsta AP Fonden Boosts Stake in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. $TROW

Key Points

• Forsta AP Fonden increased its stake in T. Rowe Price Group by 53% in the fourth quarter, buying an additional 32,500 shares and bringing its total holding to 93,800 shares valued at about $9.6 million.
• T. Rowe Price reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, with EPS of $2.52 versus analyst estimates of $2.37, and revenue of $1.86 billion, up 5.3% year over year.
• The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, equal to a 5.0% annualized yield, even as analysts remain cautious with a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a target price of $99.54.

Forsta AP Fonden lifted its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW - Free Report) by 53.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 93,800 shares of the asset manager's stock after acquiring an additional 32,500 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden's holdings in T. Rowe Price Group were worth $9,603,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of TROW. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group during the 4th quarter worth about $128,283,000. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. acquired a new position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group during the 4th quarter worth about $4,974,000. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac acquired a new position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group during the 4th quarter worth about $5,181,000. National Pension Service raised its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 453,005 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $46,379,000 after purchasing an additional 29,678 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SBI Okasan Asset Management Co.Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group during the 4th quarter worth about $648,000. 73.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at T. Rowe Price Group

In other news, VP Stephon A. Jackson sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.56, for a total value of $307,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 83,883 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,603,040.48. This represents a 3.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

T. Rowe Price Group Stock Performance

TROW stock opened at $104.53 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $97.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $99.22. 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 $22.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.20, a PEG ratio of 5.35 and a beta of 1.50.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The asset manager reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.15. T. Rowe Price Group had a net margin of 28.28% and a return on equity of 20.60%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.23 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 9.63 earnings per share for the current year.

T. Rowe Price Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.0%. T. Rowe Price Group's dividend payout ratio is 55.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TROW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of 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. Evercore reduced their price target on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $106.00 to $104.00 in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Argus upgraded shares of T. Rowe Price Group to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $85.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $107.00 to $91.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, T. Rowe Price Group presently has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $99.54.

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.

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