Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC Has $7.39 Million Stock Position in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. $TROW

Key Points

• Hunter Associates Investment Management reduced its T. Rowe Price Group stake by 21.8% in the first quarter, selling 22,911 shares and ending with 81,980 shares valued at about $7.39 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains cautious on TROW: the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $100.54, with most analysts rating it Hold or Sell.
• Fundamentals were solid in the latest quarter, as T. Rowe Price beat EPS estimates with $2.52 per share and reported revenue of $1.86 billion; it also paid a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, or $5.20 annualized, for a 4.4% yield.

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW - Free Report) by 21.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 81,980 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 22,911 shares during the quarter. T. Rowe Price Group comprises about 1.0% of Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC's holdings in T. Rowe Price Group were worth $7,391,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on TROW. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on T. Rowe Price Group from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Barclays boosted their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $107.00 to $91.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Zacks Research upgraded T. Rowe Price Group from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $105.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $100.54.

Insider Activity 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 stock was 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 directly owned 83,883 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,603,040.48. This represents a 3.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

T. Rowe Price Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TROW opened at $118.55 on Friday. The stock's 50-day moving average is $105.76 and its 200-day moving average is $100.36. The company has a market cap of $25.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.71, a P/E/G ratio of 6.02 and a beta of 1.47. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $85.22 and a 52-week high of $118.64.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The asset manager reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.15. T. Rowe Price Group had a return on equity of 20.60% and a net margin of 28.28%.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 previous year, the firm earned $2.23 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 9.69 EPS for the current year.

T. Rowe Price Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. T. Rowe Price Group's payout ratio is 55.73%.

T. Rowe Price Group Company Profile

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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