Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. Trims Stake in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW)

Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. lessened its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) by 7.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 149,889 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 11,367 shares during the quarter. T. Rowe Price Group makes up 0.9% of Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in T. Rowe Price Group were worth $16,791,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of TROW. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 8.0% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 1,153 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $129,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in T. Rowe Price Group by 34.7% in the second quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 338 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 0.4% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 22,446 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $2,514,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 3.4% in the first quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 2,935 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $331,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TCM Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 1.5% in the first quarter. TCM Advisors LLC now owns 6,900 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $779,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.85% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at T. Rowe Price Group

In other news, VP Andrew Justin Mackenzi Thomson sold 11,969 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.82, for a total transaction of $1,338,373.58. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 129,436 shares in the company, valued at $14,473,533.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other T. Rowe Price Group news, VP Andrew Justin Mackenzi Thomson sold 11,969 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.82, for a total value of $1,338,373.58. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 129,436 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,473,533.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider William J. Stromberg sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.48, for a total value of $984,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,000 shares in the company, valued at $4,825,520. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 27,039 shares of company stock worth $2,848,848 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

T. Rowe Price Group Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of T. Rowe Price Group stock traded down $2.32 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $96.51. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 393,640 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,489,074. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.32. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a one year low of $87.43 and a one year high of $132.76. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $100.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $107.63.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 27th. The asset manager reported $2.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.39. T. Rowe Price Group had a return on equity of 18.79% and a net margin of 25.50%. The company had revenue of $1.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.86 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 7.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

T. Rowe Price Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 14th. T. Rowe Price Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on TROW. Citigroup upgraded shares of T. Rowe Price Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $100.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $89.50 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $109.00 to $101.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 30th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $117.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.45.

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.