T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) Sets New 12-Month Low Following Analyst Downgrade

T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW)’s share price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday after The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on the stock from $103.00 to $89.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a sell rating on the stock. T. Rowe Price Group traded as low as $85.74 and last traded at $86.57, with a volume of 1184370 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $93.90.

TROW has been the topic of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $118.00 to $116.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays cut their price objective on 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $113.00 target price (up previously from $111.00) on shares of T. Rowe Price Group in a report on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of T. Rowe Price Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, February 2nd. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $108.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Arif Husain sold 4,112 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 36,800 shares in the company, valued at $4,021,136. This represents a 10.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert F. Maclellan sold 3,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.56, for a total value of $362,119.80. Following the sale, the director now owns 42,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,935,157.24. This trade represents a 8.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TROW. Centiva Capital LP lifted its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 49.5% in the third quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 6,444 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $702,000 after buying an additional 2,133 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 55.4% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 132,338 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $14,418,000 after purchasing an additional 47,180 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 3.8% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 29,989 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,267,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario increased its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 48.2% in the third quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 7,383 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $804,000 after purchasing an additional 2,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in T. Rowe Price Group by 6.2% during the third quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 89,563 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $9,756,000 after buying an additional 5,253 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.39% of the company’s stock.

T. Rowe Price Group Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $102.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $110.29. The company has a market cap of $18.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.50.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.20 by ($0.08). T. Rowe Price Group had a net margin of 29.61% and a return on equity of 20.83%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.72 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 9.29 EPS for the current year.

T. Rowe Price Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $1.27 per share. This represents a $5.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.15%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from T. Rowe Price Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. T. Rowe Price Group’s payout ratio is presently 55.46%.

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.