T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) Given Average Recommendation of "Reduce" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts rate T. Rowe Price “Reduce” overall: Four recommend selling, nine say hold, and one assigns a strong-buy rating. The average 12-month price target is $105.08, below the reported $118.87 share price.
• The company’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with earnings per share of $2.52 versus the $2.37 consensus and revenue of $1.86 billion. Revenue increased 5.3% year over year.
• T. Rowe Price declared a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share, equating to $5.20 annually and a 4.4% yield; its dividend payout ratio is 55.73%.

Shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Reduce" from the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $105.0833.

A number of analysts have recently commented on TROW shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on T. Rowe Price Group from $106.00 to $103.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Zacks Research raised shares of T. Rowe Price Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $108.00 to $107.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group in a research report on Wednesday.

T. Rowe Price Group Stock Down 2.3%

NASDAQ:TROW opened at $118.87 on Thursday. T. Rowe Price Group has a 52 week low of $85.22 and a 52 week high of $122.00. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $111.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $101.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.47 billion, a PE ratio of 12.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 1.47.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The asset manager reported $2.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.85 billion. T. Rowe Price Group had a return on equity of 20.60% and a net margin of 28.28%.T. Rowe Price Group's quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.23 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that T. Rowe Price Group will post 10.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

T. Rowe Price Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 15th. T. Rowe Price Group's dividend payout ratio is 55.73%.

Insider Transactions at T. Rowe Price Group

In other T. Rowe Price Group news, VP Stephon A. Jackson sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.56, for a total transaction of $307,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 83,883 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,603,040.48. This represents a 3.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of T. Rowe Price Group

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 332.0% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 8,770,071 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $897,880,000 after purchasing an additional 6,740,172 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 126.5% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,280,854 shares of the asset manager's stock valued at $335,894,000 after buying an additional 1,832,231 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group in the 4th quarter worth $128,283,000. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group during the 4th quarter worth $61,073,000. Finally, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec boosted its position 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.39% of the company's stock.

About T. Rowe Price Group

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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