Virtu Financial LLC Buys Shares of 5,431 T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW)

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 5,431 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $614,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $104,000. Loudon Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in T. Rowe Price Group during the fourth quarter worth about $216,000. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group during the fourth quarter worth about $2,279,000. Blueshift Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 64.6% in the fourth quarter. Blueshift Asset Management LLC now owns 7,288 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 2,859 shares during the period. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 93,003 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $10,518,000 after purchasing an additional 3,440 shares in the last quarter. 73.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other T. Rowe Price Group news, VP Arif Husain sold 4,112 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.27, for a total transaction of $449,318.24. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 36,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,021,136. This represents a 10.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on TROW. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $113.00 price target (up previously from $111.00) on shares of T. Rowe Price Group in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $118.00 to $116.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays reduced their price target 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. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on T. Rowe Price Group from $126.00 to $121.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of T. Rowe Price Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $114.09.

T. Rowe Price Group Stock Performance

Shares of TROW stock opened at $95.47 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $105.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $111.13. The firm has a market cap of $21.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.42, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.46. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $91.37 and a 1 year high of $125.81.

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, research analysts predict that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 9.29 EPS for the current year.

T. Rowe Price Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $1.27 dividend. This is a boost from T. Rowe Price Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. This represents a $5.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. T. Rowe Price Group’s payout ratio is currently 55.46%.

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.