T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. $TROW Shares Bought by Ruffer LLP

Key Points

• Ruffer LLP increased its stake in T. Rowe Price by 44.9% in Q4 to 61,083 shares (about $6.26M), and other institutions also added positions, leaving institutional ownership at 73.39%.
• Wall Street sentiment is negative overall: the stock carries an average MarketBeat rating of "Reduce" with a consensus target of $96.85, and several firms have cut price targets or ratings recently.
• T. Rowe Price has a market cap of $21.57B and a P/E of 10.72; it slightly missed Q4 EPS ($2.44 vs. $2.47) while revenue rose 6%, and it raised its quarterly dividend to $1.30 (annualized $5.20) for a 5.2% yield.

Ruffer LLP increased its stake in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW - Free Report) by 44.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 61,083 shares of the asset manager's stock after purchasing an additional 18,939 shares during the period. Ruffer LLP's holdings in T. Rowe Price Group were worth $6,263,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in T. Rowe Price Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $540,000. Greenspring Advisors LLC purchased a new position in T. Rowe Price Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,583,000. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. raised its position in T. Rowe Price Group by 141.9% during the 3rd quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 175,885 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $18,053,000 after buying an additional 103,174 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised 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 worth $8,088,000 after buying an additional 11,691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in T. Rowe Price Group by 43.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 312,768 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $32,021,000 after buying an additional 95,351 shares during the last quarter. 73.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TROW has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of T. Rowe Price Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $108.00 to $106.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $85.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of T. Rowe Price Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $115.00 to $107.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $96.85.

T. Rowe Price Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:TROW opened at $99.14 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $21.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $91.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $99.42. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $84.40 and a 1-year high of $118.22.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 analysts' expectations 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 revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 9.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

T. Rowe Price Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th were issued a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. This is a boost from T. Rowe Price Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. T. Rowe Price Group's payout ratio is presently 56.22%.

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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