Fidelity National Financial Inc. Makes New Investment in T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. $TROW

Fidelity National Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 148,000 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $15,152,000. T. Rowe Price Group accounts for 0.5% of Fidelity National Financial Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 35.3% during the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 14,840 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $1,519,000 after purchasing an additional 3,872 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,002,641 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $102,650,000 after purchasing an additional 74,681 shares during the period. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC now owns 31,940 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $3,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,522 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 633,529 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $64,861,000 after acquiring an additional 61,826 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of T. Rowe Price Group by 45.8% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 775,822 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $79,429,000 after acquiring an additional 243,743 shares during the period. 73.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on TROW. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of T. Rowe Price Group in a report on Friday, May 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $95.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $107.00 to $91.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $85.00 to $90.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of T. Rowe Price Group from $106.00 to $103.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 24th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, T. Rowe Price Group currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $100.08.

T. Rowe Price Group Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of TROW opened at $106.43 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $100.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $99.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.80 billion, a PE ratio of 11.41, a P/E/G ratio of 5.42 and a beta of 1.50. T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $85.22 and a 52-week high of $118.22.

T. Rowe Price Group (NASDAQ:TROW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The asset manager reported $2.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. T. Rowe Price Group had a net margin of 28.28% and a return on equity of 20.60%. T. Rowe Price Group’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.23 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. will post 9.63 EPS for the current year.

T. Rowe Price Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Investors of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 15th. T. Rowe Price Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.73%.

Insider Transactions at T. Rowe Price Group

In related news, VP Stephon A. Jackson sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.56, for a total value of $307,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 83,883 shares in the company, valued at $8,603,040.48. This represents a 3.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About T. Rowe Price Group

T. Rowe Price Group, Inc is a global investment management firm headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, founded by Thomas Rowe Price Jr. in 1937. The company provides a broad range of investment products and services for individual investors, financial intermediaries, retirement plan sponsors and institutional clients. Its offerings are built around active investment management and in-house research across equity, fixed income and multi-asset strategies, reflecting a long history as a research-driven asset manager.

The firm’s product lineup includes mutual funds, separate accounts, collective investment trusts, target-date and target-risk funds, and managed account solutions, as well as services for defined contribution and defined benefit retirement plans.