Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Lowers Holdings in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. $TROW

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group trimmed its stake in T. Rowe Price by 6.7% in Q4, selling 44,594 shares and leaving it with 624,017 shares (about 0.29%) valued at $63.89 million.
• T. Rowe Price raised its quarterly dividend to $1.30 (annualized $5.20), implying a roughly 5.4% yield and a payout ratio of 56.22%.
• Analysts have pared targets and turned cautious—MarketBeat shows an average rating of "Reduce" with an average target price of $97.38 and recent price cuts into the $94–$100 range.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its stake in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW - Free Report) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 624,017 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 44,594 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.29% of T. Rowe Price Group worth $63,887,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in T. Rowe Price Group by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 79,003 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $8,088,000 after purchasing an additional 11,691 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 96.6% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,583 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,083,000 after buying an additional 5,201 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in T. Rowe Price Group in the fourth quarter worth about $915,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $210,000. Finally, Canton Hathaway LLC bought a new position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. 73.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

T. Rowe Price Group Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of TROW stock opened at $95.84 on Wednesday. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $82.86 and a 12-month high of $118.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.36, a P/E/G ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 1.50. The firm's 50 day moving average is $91.74 and its 200 day moving average is $99.60.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. T. Rowe Price Group had a net margin of 28.53% and a return on equity of 20.29%. T. Rowe Price Group's quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict 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 was paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th were given a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. This is a positive change from T. Rowe Price Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.4%. T. Rowe Price Group's payout ratio is 56.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $104.00 to $98.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $106.00 to $100.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Barclays set a $94.00 price target on T. Rowe Price Group in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Evercore dropped their price objective on T. Rowe Price Group from $99.00 to $96.00 in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, T. Rowe Price Group has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $97.38.

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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