Lafayette Investments Inc. Has $9.78 Million Stock Position in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW)

Lafayette Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 90,853 shares of the asset manager’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,587 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Group makes up 2.4% of Lafayette Investments Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in T. Rowe Price Group were worth $9,784,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group during the first quarter valued at about $150,000. Roundview Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group during the first quarter valued at about $2,092,000. Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 75.9% during the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 27,065 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $4,092,000 after purchasing an additional 11,675 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 5.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,158,038 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $175,099,000 after purchasing an additional 60,580 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC lifted its position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 47.1% during the first quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 12,117 shares of the asset manager’s stock valued at $1,832,000 after purchasing an additional 3,880 shares in the last quarter. 73.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

T. Rowe Price Group Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ TROW traded down $2.67 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $108.72. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,484,741 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,408,567. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $114.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.71. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a one year low of $87.43 and a one year high of $132.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.40.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The asset manager reported $1.72 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. T. Rowe Price Group had a net margin of 27.69% and a return on equity of 18.41%. T. Rowe Price Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.74 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 8.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

T. Rowe Price Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $1.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.56%. This is a boost from T. Rowe Price Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. T. Rowe Price Group’s payout ratio is currently 63.92%.

Insider Activity at T. Rowe Price Group

In related news, Director Freeman A. Hrabowski III sold 8,740 shares of the business’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 transaction of $1,034,116.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,493,357.36. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other T. Rowe Price Group news, Director Freeman A. Hrabowski III sold 8,740 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,493,357.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jessica M. Hiebler sold 1,138 shares of the business’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 14,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,511,925.69. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

TROW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $114.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of T. Rowe Price Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of T. Rowe Price Group from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $106.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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 research report on Friday, February 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.67.

T. Rowe Price Group Company 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.