Van Strum & Towne Inc. Buys New Position in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW)

Van Strum & Towne Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,230 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $252,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nilsine Partners LLC increased its stake in T. Rowe Price Group by 75.5% during the 4th quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 5,509 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $623,000 after buying an additional 2,370 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 2.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 275,978 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,062,000 after acquiring an additional 7,503 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 30.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,717,877 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $194,064,000 after acquiring an additional 397,278 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 3.8% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 29,989 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $3,267,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in T. Rowe Price Group by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,870,446 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $211,529,000 after purchasing an additional 8,992 shares in the last quarter. 73.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on TROW shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed 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. StockNews.com cut shares of T. Rowe Price Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, February 2nd. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $113.00 to $105.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $126.00 to $121.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. 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 for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $114.09.

T. Rowe Price Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:TROW opened at $93.04 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.46. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $108.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $111.59. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $91.37 and a 12-month high of $125.81.

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

T. Rowe Price Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $1.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $5.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.46%. This is a positive change from T. Rowe Price Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. T. Rowe Price Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.46%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Arif Husain sold 4,112 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.27, for a total transaction of $449,318.24. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 36,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,021,136. This trade represents a 10.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate 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.