HighTower Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW)

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) by 13.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 150,550 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,212 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.07% of T. Rowe Price Group worth $17,026,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,187,176 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $812,798,000 after acquiring an additional 346,369 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 0.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,515,198 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $598,801,000 after acquiring an additional 25,481 shares during the period. Provident Trust Co. increased its holdings 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 valued at $295,311,000 after buying an additional 213,566 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,870,446 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $211,529,000 after buying an additional 8,992 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 30.1% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,717,877 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $194,064,000 after buying an additional 397,278 shares during the period. 73.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

T. Rowe Price Group Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:TROW opened at $93.04 on Friday. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.37 and a 12 month high of $125.81. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $108.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $111.62. The company has a market capitalization of $20.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.16, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.46.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.20 by ($0.08). T. Rowe Price Group had a return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 29.61%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.72 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 9.29 EPS for the current year.

T. Rowe Price Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.27 per share. This is an increase from T. Rowe Price Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. This represents a $5.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. T. Rowe Price Group’s payout ratio is presently 55.46%.

Insider Transactions at T. Rowe Price Group

In other news, VP Arif Husain sold 4,112 shares of T. Rowe Price Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.27, for a total transaction of $449,318.24. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 36,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,021,136. The trade was a 10.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on TROW. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $113.00 to $105.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $118.00 to $116.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $126.00 to $121.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of T. Rowe Price Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, February 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $113.00 target price (up from $111.00) on shares of T. Rowe Price Group in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $114.09.

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.