14,220 Shares in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) Purchased by United Community Bank

United Community Bank acquired a new stake in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 14,220 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $1,608,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TROW. Amundi boosted its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 30.1% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,717,877 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $194,064,000 after purchasing an additional 397,278 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,187,176 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $812,798,000 after purchasing an additional 346,369 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 382.1% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 398,175 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $43,373,000 after purchasing an additional 315,581 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in T. Rowe Price Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,332,000. Finally, Provident Trust Co. boosted its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Provident Trust Co. now owns 2,611,294 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $295,311,000 after acquiring an additional 213,566 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on TROW shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on T. Rowe Price Group from $126.00 to $121.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Barclays decreased their price target on T. Rowe Price Group from $113.00 to $105.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $113.00 price target (up previously from $111.00) on shares of T. Rowe Price Group in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered T. Rowe Price Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, February 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, T. Rowe Price Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $114.09.

T. Rowe Price Group Stock Performance

Shares of TROW opened at $100.66 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $110.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $112.12. The company has a market capitalization of $22.41 billion, a PE ratio of 10.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.46. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $97.26 and a fifty-two week high of $125.81.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 29.61% and a return on equity of 20.83%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 9.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

T. Rowe Price Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.27 per share. This represents a $5.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.05%. This is an increase from T. Rowe Price Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. T. Rowe Price Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.46%.

Insider Transactions at T. Rowe Price Group

In other news, VP Andrew Justin Mackenzi Thomson sold 4,047 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 119,577 shares in the company, valued at $14,749,822.95. This represents a 3.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Arif Husain sold 4,112 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.27, for a total value of $449,318.24. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 36,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,021,136. The trade was a 10.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.00% of the company’s stock.

About T. Rowe Price Group

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.