Empirical Finance LLC Acquires 159 Shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW)

Empirical Finance LLC lifted its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 7,780 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in T. Rowe Price Group were worth $847,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its position in T. Rowe Price Group by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 204,369 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $24,812,000 after acquiring an additional 6,153 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its stake in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 40.3% during the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 11,656 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,421,000 after purchasing an additional 3,347 shares during the last quarter. Davis R M Inc. increased its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 9.1% in the first quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 145,369 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $17,723,000 after purchasing an additional 12,140 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its position in T. Rowe Price Group by 44.5% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 16,040 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,956,000 after purchasing an additional 4,938 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new position in T. Rowe Price Group during the 1st quarter worth $679,000. Institutional investors own 73.39% of the company’s stock.

T. Rowe Price Group Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TROW opened at $118.77 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $110.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $112.18. The company has a market capitalization of $26.39 billion, a PE ratio of 12.99, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.41. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $96.46 and a 52 week high of $122.27.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The asset manager reported $2.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.36 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.84 billion. T. Rowe Price Group had a net margin of 30.35% and a return on equity of 20.35%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.17 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 9.33 earnings per share for the current year.

T. Rowe Price Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $1.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.18%. T. Rowe Price Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

TROW has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on 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. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on T. Rowe Price Group from $106.00 to $102.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com cut shares of T. Rowe Price Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $101.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $115.55.

Insider Transactions at T. Rowe Price Group

In other T. Rowe Price Group news, VP Andrew Justin Mackenzi Thomson sold 11,969 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.83, for a total transaction of $1,230,772.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 123,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,712,255.92. This represents a 8.83 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jessica M. Hiebler sold 484 shares of T. Rowe Price Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.73, for a total value of $50,689.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,939 shares in the company, valued at $1,459,831.47. This represents a 3.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.