Cullen Investment Group LTD. Invests $953,000 in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. bought a new position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 8,854 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $953,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in T. Rowe Price Group in the fourth quarter worth about $1,112,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 656,709 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $70,721,000 after buying an additional 35,863 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in T. Rowe Price Group in the fourth quarter worth about $1,454,000. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in T. Rowe Price Group in the fourth quarter worth about $203,000. Finally, Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. now owns 150,502 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $16,208,000 after buying an additional 3,124 shares during the period. 73.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on TROW shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. TD Cowen raised shares of T. Rowe Price Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the company from $92.00 to $114.00 in a research note on Monday, April 8th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $100.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of T. Rowe Price Group from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $106.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, T. Rowe Price Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jessica M. Hiebler sold 1,138 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total value of $121,913.94. Following the sale, the insider now owns 14,113 shares in the company, valued at $1,511,925.69. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Freeman A. Hrabowski III sold 8,740 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.32, for a total value of $1,034,116.80. Following the sale, the director now owns 21,073 shares in the company, valued at $2,493,357.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jessica M. Hiebler sold 1,138 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total transaction of $121,913.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 14,113 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,511,925.69. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

T. Rowe Price Group Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of TROW opened at $114.25 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $114.58 and a 200 day moving average of $106.61. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $87.43 and a twelve month high of $132.76.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.63 billion. T. Rowe Price Group had a net margin of 27.69% and a return on equity of 18.41%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.74 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 8.13 EPS for the current year.

T. Rowe Price Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $1.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.34%. This is a boost from T. Rowe Price Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. T. Rowe Price Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 63.92%.

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.