Nicolet Advisory Services LLC Acquires New Stake in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW)

Nicolet Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,973 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in TROW. Nilsine Partners LLC boosted its position in T. Rowe Price Group by 75.5% during the fourth quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 5,509 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $623,000 after acquiring an additional 2,370 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 275,978 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,062,000 after purchasing an additional 7,503 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 30.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,717,877 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $194,064,000 after purchasing an additional 397,278 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 357,556 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $40,436,000 after purchasing an additional 20,062 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.39% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert F. Maclellan sold 3,955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.56, for a total transaction of $362,119.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 42,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,935,157.24. The trade was a 8.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Arif Husain sold 4,112 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,021,136. This trade represents a 10.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on TROW shares. Bank of America lowered their price objective on T. Rowe Price Group from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com cut shares of T. Rowe Price Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $103.00 to $89.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup decreased 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. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $113.00 to $105.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, T. Rowe Price Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.50.

T. Rowe Price Group Stock Down 4.2 %

TROW opened at $82.60 on Friday. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $82.34 and a 52 week high of $125.81. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $102.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $110.29. The firm has a market cap of $18.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.50.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the previous year, the firm earned $1.72 EPS. 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 firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $1.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $5.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.15%. This is a boost from T. Rowe Price Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. T. Rowe Price Group’s payout ratio is 55.46%.

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.