Sigma Planning Corp Decreases Position in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW)

Sigma Planning Corp decreased its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) by 62.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,833 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 7,976 shares during the quarter. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in T. Rowe Price Group were worth $521,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in T. Rowe Price Group by 2.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,900,101 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $513,874,000 after purchasing an additional 134,839 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in T. Rowe Price Group by 0.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,483,350 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $365,299,000 after purchasing an additional 25,012 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in T. Rowe Price Group by 4.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,356,132 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $247,088,000 after purchasing an additional 93,829 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in T. Rowe Price Group by 2.0% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,271,065 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $238,167,000 after buying an additional 44,175 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in T. Rowe Price Group by 7.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,684,057 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $176,607,000 after buying an additional 119,305 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.39% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Freeman A. Hrabowski III sold 8,740 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.32, for a total transaction of $1,034,116.80. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,493,357.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other T. Rowe Price Group news, Director Freeman A. Hrabowski III sold 8,740 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.32, for a total transaction of $1,034,116.80. Following 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jessica M. Hiebler sold 1,138 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total value of $121,913.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 14,113 shares in the company, valued at $1,511,925.69. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on TROW. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on T. Rowe Price Group from $114.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on T. Rowe Price Group from $94.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. StockNews.com cut T. Rowe Price Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded T. Rowe Price Group from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $106.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on T. Rowe Price Group from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.67.

T. Rowe Price Group Trading Down 2.0 %

NASDAQ:TROW opened at $108.83 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $24.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.02, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.40. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $115.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $107.00. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $87.43 and a 12-month high of $132.76.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.12. T. Rowe Price Group had a return on equity of 18.41% and a net margin of 27.69%. The business had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.74 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 8.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

T. Rowe Price Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $1.24 per share. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.56%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from T. Rowe Price Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. T. Rowe Price Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.92%.

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.