T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) Shares Sold by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC lessened its stake in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) by 7.3% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 469,969 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 36,768 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in T. Rowe Price Group were worth $43,176,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 26,063,837 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,947,559,000 after purchasing an additional 135,203 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,187,176 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $812,798,000 after purchasing an additional 346,369 shares in the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co raised its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 6,052,469 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $684,474,000 after purchasing an additional 425,142 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in T. Rowe Price Group by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,631,429 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $635,260,000 after acquiring an additional 116,231 shares during the period. Finally, Provident Trust Co. raised its stake in T. Rowe Price Group by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Provident Trust Co. now owns 2,611,294 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $295,311,000 after acquiring an additional 213,566 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.39% of the company’s stock.

T. Rowe Price Group Trading Down 0.6%

NASDAQ TROW opened at $93.24 on Friday. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $77.85 and a 52 week high of $125.81. The stock has a market cap of $20.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $90.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $103.65.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last posted its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The asset manager reported $2.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.13 by $0.10. T. Rowe Price Group had a net margin of 29.61% and a return on equity of 20.83%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.38 EPS. T. Rowe Price Group’s quarterly revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 9.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

T. Rowe Price Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $1.27 dividend. This represents a $5.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. T. Rowe Price Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on TROW. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $110.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $100.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $94.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $89.00 to $80.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, T. Rowe Price Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $94.09.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert F. Maclellan sold 3,955 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.56, for a total value of $362,119.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 42,979 shares in the company, valued at $3,935,157.24. This trade represents a 8.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jessica M. Hiebler sold 968 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.98, for a total transaction of $93,876.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,611 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,319,994.78. This trade represents a 6.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.00% 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.