Wells Fargo & Company Cuts T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) Price Target to $98.00

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) had its target price cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $116.00 to $98.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the asset manager’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $113.00 price target (up from $111.00) on shares of T. Rowe Price Group in a report on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $103.00 to $89.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Bank of America dropped their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup reduced their price target on T. Rowe Price Group from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on T. Rowe Price Group from $113.00 to $105.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, T. Rowe Price Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $104.75.

T. Rowe Price Group Stock Performance

NASDAQ TROW opened at $85.94 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $98.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $109.29. T. Rowe Price Group has a twelve month low of $77.85 and a twelve month high of $125.81. The stock has a market cap of $19.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.38, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.50.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The asset manager reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business earned $1.72 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that T. Rowe Price Group 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 was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $1.27 dividend. This is a positive change from T. Rowe Price Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $5.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.91%. T. Rowe Price Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Robert F. Maclellan sold 3,955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.56, for a total value of $362,119.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 42,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,935,157.24. This trade represents a 8.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Arif Husain sold 4,112 shares of the business’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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 36,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,021,136. This represents a 10.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of T. Rowe Price Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 21.4% in the first quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 13,913 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,278,000 after acquiring an additional 2,457 shares during the period. Columbia Asset Management boosted its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 57.3% in the 1st quarter. Columbia Asset Management now owns 14,484 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,331,000 after purchasing an additional 5,275 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its position in T. Rowe Price Group by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 34,216 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,143,000 after purchasing an additional 2,852 shares during the last quarter. American National Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group during the 1st quarter worth about $373,000. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 6.2% during the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 51,135 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,698,000 after buying an additional 2,966 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.39% 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.