J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,133 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $337,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in TROW. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 8,968.6% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 902,146 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $97,152,000 after purchasing an additional 892,198 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $21,114,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 282.6% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 201,435 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $21,124,000 after acquiring an additional 148,787 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,900,101 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $513,874,000 after acquiring an additional 134,839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,684,057 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $176,607,000 after acquiring an additional 119,305 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.39% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Freeman A. Hrabowski III sold 8,740 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Freeman A. Hrabowski III sold 8,740 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $2,493,357.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jessica M. Hiebler sold 1,138 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total transaction of $121,913.94. Following the sale, the insider now owns 14,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,511,925.69. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

T. Rowe Price Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TROW opened at $111.06 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $114.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $106.98. The company has a market cap of $24.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.31, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.40. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a one year low of $87.43 and a one year high of $132.76.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. T. Rowe Price Group had a net margin of 27.69% and a return on equity of 18.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.74 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current year.

T. Rowe Price Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $1.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.47%. This is an increase from T. Rowe Price Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. T. Rowe Price Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TROW has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $100.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of T. Rowe Price Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $92.00 to $114.00 in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $114.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. 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. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, T. Rowe Price Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.67.

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.