Cullen Investment Group LTD. Acquires Shares of 8,854 T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. purchased a new stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 8,854 shares of the asset manager's stock, valued at approximately $953,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Simmons Bank boosted its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 23.0% during the third quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 3,503 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares in the last quarter. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP raised its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP now owns 158,875 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $17,109,000 after acquiring an additional 8,773 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 317,349 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $34,299,000 after acquiring an additional 10,680 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC raised its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 48.8% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 280,552 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $30,213,000 after acquiring an additional 92,059 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 11.6% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 297,846 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $31,235,000 after acquiring an additional 30,899 shares during the last quarter. 73.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

T. Rowe Price Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TROW traded down $2.14 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $112.11. 1,290,855 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,391,160. The company has a market cap of $25.07 billion, a PE ratio of 14.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.40. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a one year low of $87.43 and a one year high of $132.76. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $114.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $106.66.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. T. Rowe Price Group had a return on equity of 18.41% and a net margin of 27.69%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 8.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

T. Rowe Price Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $1.24 per share. This is a boost from T. Rowe Price Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.42%. T. Rowe Price Group's payout ratio is presently 63.92%.

Insider Activity at T. Rowe Price Group

In related news, insider Jessica M. Hiebler sold 1,138 shares of T. Rowe Price Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total transaction of $121,913.94. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 14,113 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,511,925.69. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Freeman A. Hrabowski III sold 8,740 shares of T. Rowe Price Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.32, for a total transaction of $1,034,116.80. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,073 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,493,357.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jessica M. Hiebler sold 1,138 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total value of $121,913.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 14,113 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,511,925.69. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com downgraded T. Rowe Price Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on T. Rowe Price Group from $101.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded T. Rowe Price Group from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $106.00 to $120.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group lifted their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $100.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $94.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $110.56.

About T. Rowe Price Group

T. Rowe Price Group, Inc is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm provides its services to individuals, institutional investors, retirement plans, financial intermediaries, and institutions. It launches and manages equity and fixed income mutual funds. The firm invests in the public equity and fixed income markets across the globe.