T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) to Issue Dividend Increase – $1.27 Per Share

T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 11th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 1.27 per share by the asset manager on Friday, March 28th. This represents a $5.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from T. Rowe Price Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24.

T. Rowe Price Group has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.7% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 18 consecutive years. T. Rowe Price Group has a dividend payout ratio of 51.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect T. Rowe Price Group to earn $9.78 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 50.7%.

T. Rowe Price Group Trading Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ TROW opened at $106.92 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $115.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $112.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.44. T. Rowe Price Group has a 12-month low of $100.49 and a 12-month high of $125.81.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last announced 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 20.91% and a net margin of 29.61%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.72 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that T. Rowe Price Group will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at T. Rowe Price Group

In other news, VP Arif Husain sold 4,112 shares of T. Rowe Price Group stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 36,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,021,136. The trade was a 10.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Andrew Justin Mackenzi Thomson sold 4,047 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.35, for a total transaction of $499,197.45. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 119,577 shares in the company, valued at $14,749,822.95. This trade represents a 3.27 % 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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TROW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $112.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $113.00 target price (up from $111.00) on shares of T. Rowe Price Group in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on T. Rowe Price Group from $118.00 to $116.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $115.09.

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.