Topic: Growth Stocks

T. ROWE PRICE GROUP INC. $84 – Nasdaq symbol TROW

T. ROWE PRICE GROUP INC. $84 (Nasdaq symbol TROW; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 260.7 million; Market cap: $21.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.5; Dividend yield: 2.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.troweprice .com) sells mutual funds and wealth management services.

In 2014, the company earned $1.23 billion, or $4.55 a share. That’s up 17.4% from $1.05 billion, or $3.90 a share, in 2013. Revenue gained 14.3%, to $4.0 billion from $3.5 billion.

On December 31, 2014, the company had a record $746.8 billion of assets under management, up 7.9% from $692.4 billion at the end of 2013. About 93% of that increase came from higher stock prices. The company’s fee income varies with the value of the assets it manages, so it gains from rising stock markets. Higher mutual fund sales (net of redemptions) supplied the remaining 7%.

T. Rowe Price’s earnings will probably rise 6.8%, to $4.86, in 2015. The stock trades at a reasonable 17.3 times that forecast. The company has also raised its dividend by 18.2%. The new annual rate of $2.08 a share yields 2.5%. In addition, the company will pay a special dividend of $2.00 a share on April 23, 2015.

T. Rowe Price is a buy.

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