Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Reduces Stake in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. $TROW

Key Points

• Salem Investment Counselors Inc. cut its stake in T. Rowe Price by 47.0%, selling 36,628 shares and leaving 41,256 shares valued at about $4.224 million after the fourth quarter.
• T. Rowe Price raised its quarterly dividend to $1.30 (annualized $5.20), implying a 5.9% yield with an ex-dividend date of March 16 and payment on March 30.
• Analysts are cautious: MarketBeat shows a consensus rating of "Reduce" with a consensus target price of $101.69, amid a mix of recent hold and sell recommendations.

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lowered its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW - Free Report) by 47.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 41,256 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 36,628 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.'s holdings in T. Rowe Price Group were worth $4,224,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of TROW. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its position in T. Rowe Price Group by 66.7% during the second quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 250 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Essex Bank grew its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Essex Bank now owns 2,914 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $299,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC increased its position in T. Rowe Price Group by 4.8% during the third quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 2,249 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 2,579 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $265,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC raised its position in T. Rowe Price Group by 0.3% in the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 36,900 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $3,787,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. 73.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TROW has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays set a $94.00 price target on shares of T. Rowe Price Group in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $110.00 to $104.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $85.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $123.00 to $115.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Argus upgraded T. Rowe Price Group to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, T. Rowe Price Group has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $101.69.

T. Rowe Price Group Price Performance

NASDAQ TROW opened at $87.98 on Tuesday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $96.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $101.26. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $77.85 and a 12 month high of $118.22. The company has a market capitalization of $19.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.61 and a beta of 1.54.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $2.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.47 by ($0.03). T. Rowe Price Group had a net margin of 28.53% and a return on equity of 20.29%. The company had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.92 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. T. Rowe Price Group's revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 9.29 earnings per share for the current year.

T. Rowe Price Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This is an increase from T. Rowe Price Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. T. Rowe Price Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.22%.

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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