Fayez Sarofim & Co Trims Holdings in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. $TROW

Fayez Sarofim & Co decreased its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) by 3.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,045,436 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 203,550 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Group accounts for about 1.2% of Fayez Sarofim & Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Fayez Sarofim & Co owned about 2.31% of T. Rowe Price Group worth $517,864,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 137.7% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,441,458 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $332,101,000 after purchasing an additional 1,993,920 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $82,756,000. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec lifted its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 81.0% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 1,306,922 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $134,142,000 after buying an additional 584,949 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in T. Rowe Price Group in the 3rd quarter worth $34,034,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 160.3% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 506,588 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $48,886,000 after buying an additional 311,987 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.39% of the company’s stock.

T. Rowe Price Group Stock Up 0.8%

TROW opened at $88.59 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $19.32 billion, a PE ratio of 9.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 1.54. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $98.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $102.11. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $77.85 and a 52 week high of $118.22.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The asset manager reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.47 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. T. Rowe Price Group had a return on equity of 20.29% and a net margin of 28.53%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. 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 will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 16th will be paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 16th. This is a positive change from T. Rowe Price Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.27. T. Rowe Price Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.92%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. TD Cowen decreased their price target on T. Rowe Price Group from $109.00 to $97.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of T. Rowe Price Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $108.00 to $106.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on T. Rowe Price Group from $85.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $101.69.

About T. Rowe Price Group

T. Rowe Price Group, Inc is a global investment management firm headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, founded by Thomas Rowe Price Jr. in 1937. The company provides a broad range of investment products and services for individual investors, financial intermediaries, retirement plan sponsors and institutional clients. Its offerings are built around active investment management and in-house research across equity, fixed income and multi-asset strategies, reflecting a long history as a research-driven asset manager.

The firm’s product lineup includes mutual funds, separate accounts, collective investment trusts, target-date and target-risk funds, and managed account solutions, as well as services for defined contribution and defined benefit retirement plans.