T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) Upgraded by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods to "Market Perform"

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW - Free Report) from an underperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report released on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $120.00 price objective on the asset manager's stock, up from their previous price objective of $106.00.

TROW has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of 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. TD Cowen raised shares of T. Rowe Price Group from a sell rating to a hold rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $92.00 to $114.00 in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of T. Rowe Price Group from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $107.70.

T. Rowe Price Group Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of TROW stock traded up $1.14 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $117.72. 1,563,776 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,388,675. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $114.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.35. The stock has a market cap of $26.33 billion, a PE ratio of 15.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 1.40. T. Rowe Price Group has a 12 month low of $87.43 and a 12 month high of $132.76.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.63 billion. T. Rowe Price Group had a net margin of 27.69% and a return on equity of 18.41%. T. Rowe Price Group's revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that T. Rowe Price Group will post 7.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

T. Rowe Price Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $1.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from T. Rowe Price Group's previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.21%. T. Rowe Price Group's dividend payout ratio is 63.92%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other T. Rowe Price Group news, Director Freeman A. Hrabowski III sold 8,740 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.32, for a total transaction of $1,034,116.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,073 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,493,357.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Director Freeman A. Hrabowski III sold 8,740 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $2,493,357.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jessica M. Hiebler sold 1,138 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were 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 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.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On T. Rowe Price Group

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Simmons Bank increased its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 23.0% in 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 during the period. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP grew its holdings in 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 period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in 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 period. Vest Financial LLC grew its holdings in 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 period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.39% of the company's stock.

T. Rowe Price Group Company Profile

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.