ProShare Advisors LLC Sells 13,295 Shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. $TROW

Key Points

• ProShare Advisors LLC trimmed its T. Rowe Price Group stake by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 13,295 shares and ending with 1,599,845 shares valued at about $163.8 million.
• T. Rowe Price Group reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $2.52 beating estimates and revenue of $1.86 billion slightly topping forecasts; revenue also rose 5.3% year over year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, equal to an annualized yield of 5.1%, while analysts mostly remain cautious with a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $99.54.

ProShare Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW - Free Report) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,599,845 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 13,295 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.73% of T. Rowe Price Group worth $163,792,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group during the third quarter worth $540,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 141.9% during the third quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 175,885 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $18,053,000 after purchasing an additional 103,174 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 79,003 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $8,088,000 after purchasing an additional 11,691 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 43.9% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 312,768 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $32,021,000 after purchasing an additional 95,351 shares during the period. Finally, LBP AM SA grew its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. LBP AM SA now owns 156,879 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $16,061,000 after purchasing an additional 30,226 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.39% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at T. Rowe Price Group

In other T. Rowe Price Group news, VP Stephon A. Jackson sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 83,883 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,603,040.48. The trade was a 3.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

T. Rowe Price Group Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ:TROW opened at $102.38 on Tuesday. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $85.22 and a 1 year high of $118.22. The stock has a market cap of $21.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.97, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 1.51. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $94.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $99.17.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The asset manager reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.23 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 9.61 earnings per share for the current year.

T. Rowe Price Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. T. Rowe Price Group's payout ratio is presently 55.73%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on TROW. Zacks Research raised T. Rowe Price Group from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on T. Rowe Price Group from $107.00 to $91.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on 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 reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of T. Rowe Price Group in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on T. Rowe Price Group from $98.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $99.54.

T. Rowe Price Group 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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