Dividend Increase for TROW Investors

Article Excerpt

T. ROWE PRICE GROUP INC. $69 (Nasdaq symbol TROW; HighGrowth Dividend Payer Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 248.2 million; Market cap: $17.1 billion; Dividend yield: 3.3%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.troweprice.com) sells mutual funds and wealth management services. The company will raise its quarterly dividend with the March 2017 payment, to $0.57 a share from $0.54. The new annual rate of $2.28 yields 3.3%. T. Rowe Price has increased its dividend each year for the past 31 years. Meantime, President Donald Trump has ordered the U.S. Department of Labor to review the economic impact of new regulations for U.S. investment firms. Initially set to take effect in April 2017, those new rules impose a “fiduciary” standard on retirement-investing professionals. That means they must put the interest of their clients ahead of their own. That’s more stringent than the current requirement for them to recommend “suitable” products for their clients. Setting up systems to comply with the new standards would increase T. Rowe Price’s…