T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) Short Interest Up 18.6% in June

T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,260,000 shares, an increase of 18.6% from the May 31st total of 8,650,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,260,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 8.1 days. Approximately 4.7% of the company’s shares are sold short.

T. Rowe Price Group Stock Performance

TROW traded down $0.12 on Friday, hitting $115.31. The company had a trading volume of 1,598,508 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,018,934. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $114.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $112.85. T. Rowe Price Group has a 12-month low of $87.43 and a 12-month high of $132.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.43.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The asset manager reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.34. T. Rowe Price Group had a return on equity of 19.70% and a net margin of 29.09%. The company had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.69 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that T. Rowe Price Group will post 8.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

T. Rowe Price Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $1.24 dividend. This represents a $4.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. T. Rowe Price Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Dorothy C. Sawyer sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.00, for a total value of $234,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 34,710 shares in the company, valued at $4,061,070. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, VP Dorothy C. Sawyer sold 2,000 shares of T. Rowe Price Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.00, for a total transaction of $234,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 34,710 shares in the company, valued at $4,061,070. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Jessica M. Hiebler sold 1,401 shares of T. Rowe Price Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.85, for a total value of $162,305.85. Following the sale, the insider now owns 14,198 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,644,838.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,444 shares of company stock worth $740,408 over the last three months. 2.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On T. Rowe Price Group

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 48.0% in the first quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,027 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $125,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 93.6% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 331 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 4.9% in the first quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,026 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $735,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 156.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 16,826 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,051,000 after acquiring an additional 10,260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in T. Rowe Price Group by 175.6% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 43,261 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $5,274,000 after acquiring an additional 27,565 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

TROW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on T. Rowe Price Group from $110.00 to $107.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Citigroup raised their price target on 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on T. Rowe Price Group from $94.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on T. Rowe Price Group from $114.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded T. Rowe Price Group from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $106.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, T. Rowe Price Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $112.10.

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.