Alliancebernstein L.P. Purchases 8,668 Shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW)

Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 310,160 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,668 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 0.14% of T. Rowe Price Group worth $35,076,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Centiva Capital LP boosted its position in T. Rowe Price Group by 49.5% during the 3rd quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 6,444 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $702,000 after acquiring an additional 2,133 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 55.4% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 3.8% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 29,989 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,267,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario grew its position in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in T. Rowe Price Group by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 89,563 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $9,756,000 after buying an additional 5,253 shares during the last quarter. 73.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on TROW shares. StockNews.com cut T. Rowe Price Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, February 2nd. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup dropped their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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 report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $113.00 price objective (up from $111.00) on shares of T. Rowe Price Group in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.50.

T. Rowe Price Group Price Performance

TROW stock opened at $82.60 on Friday. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $82.34 and a fifty-two week high of $125.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.02, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.50. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $102.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $110.31.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $2.12 EPS 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 quarter last year, the company earned $1.72 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 9.29 EPS for the current year.

T. Rowe Price Group Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at T. Rowe Price Group

In other T. Rowe Price Group news, Director Robert F. Maclellan sold 3,955 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.56, for a total transaction of $362,119.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 42,979 shares in the company, valued at $3,935,157.24. This represents a 8.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Arif Husain sold 4,112 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 36,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,021,136. This represents a 10.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

T. Rowe Price Group 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.