Argent Advisors Inc. Increases Stake in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW)

Argent Advisors Inc. grew its stake in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) by 5.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,905 shares of the asset manager’s stock after buying an additional 490 shares during the quarter. Argent Advisors Inc.’s holdings in T. Rowe Price Group were worth $1,007,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 67.4% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 231 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. Curio Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 124.0% in the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 280 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Advantage Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 48.8% in the 4th quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 305 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.39% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Arif Husain sold 4,112 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.27, for a total value of $449,318.24. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on TROW shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $113.00 price objective (up previously from $111.00) on shares of T. Rowe Price Group in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $118.00 to $116.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $126.00 to $121.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com lowered T. Rowe Price Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 2nd. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $113.00 to $105.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $114.09.

T. Rowe Price Group Stock Performance

Shares of T. Rowe Price Group stock opened at $94.31 on Tuesday. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $91.37 and a 1 year high of $125.81. The company has a market capitalization of $21.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.30, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.46. The company’s fifty day moving average is $107.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $111.57.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 20.83% and a net margin of 29.61%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.72 EPS. As a group, equities 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 will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $1.27 per share. This is an increase from T. Rowe Price Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. This represents a $5.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. T. Rowe Price Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.