T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. $TROW Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in T. Rowe Price Group by 15.1% in the fourth quarter, selling 332,687 shares and leaving it with 1,873,009 shares worth about $191.8 million.
• Institutional ownership remains high, with several other firms adding to their positions, including Northern Trust, Dimensional Fund Advisors, and Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec; institutions and hedge funds own 73.39% of the company.
• T. Rowe Price posted solid quarterly results, beating EPS expectations at $2.52 and slightly topping revenue estimates, while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, implying a 5.0% annualized yield.

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its position in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW - Free Report) by 15.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,873,009 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 332,687 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.86% of T. Rowe Price Group worth $191,759,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in T. Rowe Price Group by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,529,116 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $259,588,000 after purchasing an additional 152,451 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,090,249 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $214,557,000 after acquiring an additional 64,791 shares during the last quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec increased its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 81.0% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 1,306,922 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $134,142,000 after acquiring an additional 584,949 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 873,092 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $89,614,000 after acquiring an additional 45,845 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 24.8% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 767,672 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $78,794,000 after acquiring an additional 152,318 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.39% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on TROW. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $85.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $95.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of 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. Argus raised shares of T. Rowe Price Group to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, T. Rowe Price Group currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $99.54.

Insider Transactions at T. Rowe Price Group

In related news, VP Stephon A. Jackson sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.56, for a total transaction of $307,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 83,883 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,603,040.48. This represents a 3.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

T. Rowe Price Group Stock Performance

TROW opened at $104.50 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $96.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $99.20. The company has a market cap of $22.39 billion, a PE ratio of 11.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 1.51. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $85.22 and a 1 year high of $118.22.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. T. Rowe Price Group had a net margin of 28.28% and a return on equity of 20.60%. The company's revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.23 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 9.63 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. T. Rowe Price Group's dividend payout ratio is 55.73%.

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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