T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on TROW. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of T. Rowe Price Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $107.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $98.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Evercore set a $121.00 price target on T. Rowe Price Group in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on T. Rowe Price Group from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, T. Rowe Price Group presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $103.42.

T. Rowe Price Group Stock Performance

T. Rowe Price Group stock opened at $117.35 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $25.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.58, a PEG ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 1.47. T. Rowe Price Group has a fifty-two week low of $85.22 and a fifty-two week high of $121.17. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $108.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $101.32.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The asset manager reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.37 by $0.15. T. Rowe Price Group had a return on equity of 20.60% and a net margin of 28.28%.The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.23 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that T. Rowe Price Group will post 10.07 earnings per share for the current year.

T. Rowe Price Group Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at T. Rowe Price Group

In other news, VP Stephon A. Jackson sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.56, for a total value of $307,680.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 83,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,603,040.48. This trade represents a 3.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 6,740,172 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in T. Rowe Price Group by 126.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,832,231 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in T. Rowe Price Group in the 4th quarter worth $128,283,000. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab bought a new position in T. Rowe Price Group in the 4th quarter worth $61,073,000. Finally, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec lifted its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 81.0% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 1,306,922 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $134,142,000 after purchasing an additional 584,949 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.