T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) Lowered to Strong Sell Rating by Zacks Research

Key Points

• Zacks Research downgraded T. Rowe Price to a "strong sell" from hold, while MarketBeat data shows an overall average rating of "Reduce" with a mean target price of $97.38.
• In its most recent quarter T. Rowe Price reported $2.44 EPS (missing the $2.47 consensus) with revenue of $1.93 billion (+6% YoY); the stock trades around $96 with a P/E of 10.39 and a 52-week range of $82.86–$118.22.
• Institutional investors own roughly 73.4% of the shares, and several large funds increased positions—most notably Goldman Sachs, which boosted its stake by 332% (adding 6.74 million shares) in the fourth quarter.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW - Get Free Report) was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America boosted their price target on T. Rowe Price Group from $85.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on T. Rowe Price Group from $110.00 to $95.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on T. Rowe Price Group from $108.00 to $106.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of T. Rowe Price Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Barclays set a $94.00 price objective on T. Rowe Price Group in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $97.38.

T. Rowe Price Group Price Performance

TROW opened at $96.11 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $99.58. The company has a market capitalization of $20.91 billion, a PE ratio of 10.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.15 and a beta of 1.50. T. Rowe Price Group has a 1 year low of $82.86 and a 1 year high of $118.22.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. T. Rowe Price Group had a net margin of 28.53% and a return on equity of 20.29%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that T. Rowe Price Group will post 9.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On T. Rowe Price Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,159,797 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $1,449,680,000 after buying an additional 45,530 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 332.0% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 8,770,071 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $897,880,000 after buying an additional 6,740,172 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,073,846 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $826,600,000 after buying an additional 143,109 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,520,858 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $360,465,000 after buying an additional 131,438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,443,322 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $352,528,000 after buying an additional 476,219 shares in 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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