T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.34 EPS

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) issued its earnings results on Friday. The asset manager reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.34, RTT News reports. T. Rowe Price Group had a net margin of 27.69% and a return on equity of 18.41%. The company had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.69 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis.

T. Rowe Price Group Price Performance

NASDAQ:TROW traded up $5.24 on Friday, hitting $114.07. 2,436,201 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,433,009. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $115.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $107.00. T. Rowe Price Group has a 52 week low of $87.43 and a 52 week high of $132.76. The company has a market cap of $25.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.40.

T. Rowe Price Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $1.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $4.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.35%. This is an increase from T. Rowe Price Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.22. T. Rowe Price Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.92%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on TROW shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $114.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $105.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. UBS Group raised their price target on T. Rowe Price Group from $100.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on T. Rowe Price Group from $94.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $112.67.

Insider Activity

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 stock was sold at an average price of $118.32, for a total transaction of $1,034,116.80. Following 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Freeman A. Hrabowski III sold 8,740 shares of T. Rowe Price Group stock in a transaction dated 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jessica M. Hiebler sold 1,138 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.13, for a total transaction of $121,913.94. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 14,113 shares in the company, valued at $1,511,925.69. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.00% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.