First Merchants Corp Lowers Holdings in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW)

First Merchants Corp lowered its position in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) by 7.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,137 shares of the asset manager’s stock after selling 1,251 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in T. Rowe Price Group were worth $1,712,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nilsine Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 75.5% in the 4th quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 5,509 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $623,000 after purchasing an additional 2,370 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in T. Rowe Price Group by 2.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 275,978 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $30,062,000 after buying an additional 7,503 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake 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 worth $3,267,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in T. Rowe Price Group during the third quarter worth $516,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in T. Rowe Price Group by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,840,807 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $745,169,000 after acquiring an additional 231,286 shares in the last quarter. 73.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

T. Rowe Price Group Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ TROW opened at $107.24 on Friday. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $100.49 and a 12-month high of $125.81. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $114.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $112.44. The stock has a market cap of $23.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.44.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last issued its 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 20.91% and a net margin of 29.61%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.72 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 9.36 earnings per share for the current year.

T. Rowe Price Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.27 per share. This is an increase from T. Rowe Price Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $5.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.74%. T. Rowe Price Group’s payout ratio is 54.15%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on TROW. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on T. Rowe Price Group from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $118.00 to $116.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $116.00 to $115.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, 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. Four equities 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, T. Rowe Price Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $115.09.

Insider Activity at T. Rowe Price Group

In related news, VP Andrew Justin Mackenzi Thomson sold 4,047 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.35, for a total transaction of $499,197.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 119,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,749,822.95. This trade represents a 3.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Arif Husain sold 4,112 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.27, for a total transaction of $449,318.24. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 36,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,021,136. The trade was a 10.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.