Bank of America Cuts T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) Price Target to $85.00

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) had its price objective trimmed by Bank of America from $90.00 to $85.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underperform rating on the asset manager’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered T. Rowe Price Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 2nd. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $126.00 to $121.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $118.00 to $116.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $113.00 price target (up from $111.00) on shares of T. Rowe Price Group in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, T. Rowe Price Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $108.50.

T. Rowe Price Group Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TROW opened at $82.60 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $18.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a 50 day moving average of $102.18 and a 200-day moving average of $110.31. T. Rowe Price Group has a one year low of $82.34 and a one year high of $125.81.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $2.12 earnings per share 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 business earned $1.72 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that T. Rowe Price Group will post 9.29 earnings per share for the current year.

T. Rowe Price Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $1.27 per share. 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. This represents a $5.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.15%. T. Rowe Price Group’s payout ratio is currently 55.46%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Arif Husain sold 4,112 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.27, for a total transaction of $449,318.24. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 36,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,021,136. The trade was a 10.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert F. Maclellan sold 3,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.56, for a total value of $362,119.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 42,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,935,157.24. This represents a 8.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of T. Rowe Price Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TROW. Exeter Financial LLC raised its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Exeter Financial LLC now owns 26,132 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,401,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 763.3% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,554 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $143,000 after purchasing an additional 1,374 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. grew its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 0.9% in the first quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 13,554 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,245,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 30.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 72,092 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $8,153,000 after purchasing an additional 16,999 shares during the period. Finally, Thoma Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in T. Rowe Price Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $684,000. Institutional investors own 73.39% of the company’s stock.

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.