Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Raises Holdings in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. $TROW

Key Points

• Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH increased its stake in T. Rowe Price by 22.3% in Q4, buying 42,611 shares to hold 233,395 shares (about 0.11%) valued at roughly $24.05 million.
• T. Rowe Price reported Q results with EPS of $2.44 (missing estimates by $0.03) and revenue of $1.93 billion, up 6% year-over-year, while analysts project about 9.69 EPS for the fiscal year.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $1.30 (annualized $5.20) for a ~5.2% yield, but analyst sentiment has weakened—MarketBeat shows a consensus "Reduce" rating with a $96.85 target.

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lifted its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW - Free Report) by 22.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 233,395 shares of the asset manager's stock after buying an additional 42,611 shares during the quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned approximately 0.11% of T. Rowe Price Group worth $24,053,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Leelyn Smith LLC grew its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Leelyn Smith LLC now owns 25,870 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $2,649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002 shares in the last quarter. Busey Bank bought a new stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $205,000. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 92.0% in the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 386 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 88.9% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 118,749 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $12,158,000 after purchasing an additional 55,896 shares during the period. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 7,002 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $717,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.39% of the company's stock.

T. Rowe Price Group Stock Down 0.7%

NASDAQ TROW opened at $99.49 on Friday. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $85.22 and a 52 week high of $118.22. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $92.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $99.42. The firm has a market cap of $21.65 billion, a PE ratio of 10.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.34 and a beta of 1.50.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.47 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.92 billion. T. Rowe Price Group had a return on equity of 20.29% and a net margin of 28.53%.T. Rowe Price Group's revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. On average, equities research 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a positive change from T. Rowe Price Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.2%. T. Rowe Price Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore reduced their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $99.00 to $96.00 in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Zacks Research cut T. Rowe Price Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Argus upgraded T. Rowe Price Group to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on T. Rowe Price Group from $97.00 to $93.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on T. Rowe Price Group from $115.00 to $107.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, T. Rowe Price Group currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $96.85.

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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