Tufton Capital Management Purchases 1,125 Shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW)

Tufton Capital Management lifted its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) by 18.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,281 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,125 shares during the quarter. Tufton Capital Management’s holdings in T. Rowe Price Group were worth $784,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Simmons Bank boosted its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 23.0% during the 3rd quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 3,503 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 656 shares during the last quarter. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP boosted its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. L. Roy Papp & Associates LLP now owns 158,875 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $17,109,000 after acquiring an additional 8,773 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 317,349 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,299,000 after acquiring an additional 10,680 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 48.8% during the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 280,552 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $30,213,000 after buying an additional 92,059 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cullen Investment Group LTD. purchased a new position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $953,000. Institutional investors own 73.39% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at T. Rowe Price Group

In other news, Director Freeman A. Hrabowski III sold 8,740 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.32, for a total value of $1,034,116.80. Following the sale, the director now directly 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 SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Freeman A. Hrabowski III sold 8,740 shares of the 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 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 at this link. Also, insider Jessica M. Hiebler sold 1,138 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 14,113 shares in the company, 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

TROW stock traded down $1.26 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $110.13. The stock had a trading volume of 735,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,384,370. The firm has a market cap of $24.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a 50-day moving average of $114.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $106.69. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $87.43 and a 52-week 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 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.74 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 8.13 earnings per share for the current year.

T. Rowe Price Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $1.24 dividend. This is a boost from T. Rowe Price Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.50%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. T. Rowe Price Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TROW has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on T. Rowe Price Group from $100.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on T. Rowe Price Group from $94.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup raised their price objective on T. Rowe Price Group from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. TD Cowen raised T. Rowe Price Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $92.00 to $114.00 in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded T. Rowe Price Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.