PROSPECTUS

May 1, 2022

 
 

T. ROWE PRICE

TSPA

U.S. Equity Research ETF

 
 

This ETF is different from traditional ETFs.

Traditional ETFs tell the public what assets they hold each day. This ETF will not. This may create additional risks for your investment. For example:

· You may have to pay more money to trade the ETF’s shares. This ETF will provide less information to traders, who tend to charge more for trades when they have less information.

· The price you pay to buy ETF shares on an exchange may not match the value of the ETF’s portfolio. The same is true when you sell shares. These price differences may be greater for this ETF compared to other ETFs because it provides less information to traders.

· These additional risks may be even greater in bad or uncertain market conditions.

· The ETF will publish on its website each day a “Proxy Portfolio” designed to help trading in shares of the ETF. While the Proxy Portfolio includes some of the ETF’s holdings, it is not the ETF’s actual portfolio.

The differences between this ETF and other ETFs may also have advantages. By keeping certain information about the ETF secret, this ETF may face less risk that other traders can predict or copy its investment strategy. This may improve the ETF’s performance. If other traders are able to copy or predict the ETF’s investment strategy, however, this may hurt the ETF’s performance.

For additional information regarding the unique attributes and risks of the ETF, see “Proxy portfolio structure,” “Premium/Discount,” “Trading halt,” and “Authorized Participant.”

Principal U.S. Listing Exchange: NYSE Arca, Inc. Exchange-traded fund (ETF) shares are not individually redeemable.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 
   
 


Table of Contents

       

1

SUMMARY

   
 

U.S. Equity Research ETF 1

2

MORE ABOUT THE FUND

 

Management of the Fund 7

More Information About the Fund’s
Investment Objective(s), Strategies,
and Risks
 8

Portfolio Turnover 15

Financial Highlights 15

Disclosure of Fund Portfolio Information 17

3

SHAREHOLDER INFORMATION


     

SUMMARY

 

1

   

Investment Objective(s)

The fund seeks to provide long-term capital growth.

Fees and Expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the fund. You may also incur brokerage commissions and other charges when buying or selling shares of the fund, which are not reflected in the table or the example below.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

     

Annual fund operating expenses
(expenses that you pay each year as a
percentage of the value of your investment)

Management fees

0.34

%

   

Other expenses

0.00

 
   

Total annual fund operating expenses

0.34

 

Example This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods, that your investment has a 5% return each year, and that the fund’s fees and expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

       

1 year

3 years

5 years

10 years

$35

$109

$191

$431

Portfolio Turnover The fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when the fund’s shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 13.0% of the average value of its portfolio.

Investments, Risks, and Performance

Principal Investment Strategies

The fund will normally invest at least 80% of net assets in U.S. equity securities (or futures that have similar economic characteristics). The strategy attempts to create a portfolio with similar characteristics to the Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index® (Index) with the potential to provide excess returns relative to the Index. The fund uses a disciplined portfolio construction process whereby it weights each sector and industry approximately the same as the Index. Within each sector and industry, the weighting of individual fund holdings can vary significantly from their weighting within the Index. The fund, which may be considered an “enhanced index” fund,


   

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attempts to outperform the Index by overweighting those stocks that are viewed favorably relative to their weighting in the Index, and underweighting or avoiding those stocks that are viewed negatively. The fund may also purchase securities that are not in the Index, but at least 80% of the fund’s total assets will normally be invested in securities that are in the Index at the time of purchase.

The fund will generally remain fully invested (less than 5% in cash reserves) and seeks to be sector neutral when compared to the Index. While the majority of assets will be invested in large-capitalization U.S. common stocks, the fund may have small- and mid-capitalization and foreign exposure in keeping with fund objectives.

The fund is “nondiversified,” meaning it may invest a greater portion of its assets in fewer issuers than is permissible for a “diversified” fund.

The fund is an actively-managed, exchange-traded fund (ETF) that does not disclose portfolio holdings daily. In order to provide market participants with information on the fund’s investments, the fund will publish a “Proxy Portfolio” on its website daily. A Proxy Portfolio is a basket of securities that is designed to closely track the daily performance of the fund’s portfolio holdings. While the Proxy Portfolio includes some of the fund’s holdings, it is not the fund’s actual portfolio. The Proxy Portfolio could be based on a broad-based securities index or the fund’s recently disclosed portfolio holdings. The fund’s Portfolio Overlap is available on the fund’s website daily. The Portfolio Overlap is the percentage weight overlap between the holdings of the prior business day’s Proxy Portfolio compared to the holdings of the fund that formed the basis for the fund’s calculation of net asset value (NAV) at the end of the prior business day.

Principal Risks

As with any fund, there is no guarantee that the fund will achieve its objective(s). The fund’s share price fluctuates, which means you could lose money by investing in the fund. The principal risks of investing in this fund, which may be even greater in bad or uncertain market conditions, are summarized as follows:

Proxy portfolio structure The fund does not disclose portfolio holdings daily. The fund uses a Proxy Portfolio, which is a basket of securities that is designed to closely track the daily performance of the fund’s portfolio holdings. The fund may not always effectively construct a proxy portfolio that closely tracks the daily performance of the fund’s portfolio holdings. Because the fund uses a Proxy Portfolio, there is a risk that the fund’s shares may trade at a wider bid/ask spread than shares of ETFs that publish their portfolios on a daily basis. This risk is heightened during periods of market disruption and volatility, and, therefore, may cost you more to trade. Although the fund seeks to benefit from keeping its portfolio information confidential, other traders may attempt to use the Proxy Portfolio and publicly available information, including intraday net asset value (INAV) to identify the fund’s trading strategy, which, if successful, could result in such traders engaging in certain predatory trading practices that may have the potential to harm the fund and its shareholders. Because the fund’s shares are traded in the secondary market, a broker may charge a commission to execute a transaction


   

SUMMARY

3

in shares, and you may incur the cost of the spread between the price at which a dealer will buy shares and the somewhat higher price at which a dealer will sell shares.

Premium/Discount Although the Proxy Portfolio is intended to provide investors with enough information to allow for an effective arbitrage mechanism that will keep the market price of the fund at or close to the underlying NAV per share of the fund, there is a risk (which may increase during periods of market disruption or volatility) that market prices will vary significantly from the underlying NAV per share of the fund. These price differences may be greater for this fund compared to ETFs that disclose holdings daily because it provides different portfolio holdings information to traders. The adviser will monitor on an ongoing basis how shares trade, including the level of any market price premium or discount to NAV and the bid/ask spreads on market transactions. Each day, the website will also provide the fund’s Tracking Error, which means the standard deviation over the past three months of the daily proxy spread (i.e., the difference, in percentage terms, between the Proxy Portfolio’s per share NAV and that of the fund at the end of the trading day).

Trading halt It is possible that an active trading market for the shares will not be maintained, or that trading in the shares will be halted for reasons such as market-wide trading halts or the shares no longer meeting the listing requirements of the exchange. If securities representing 10% or more of the fund’s portfolio do not have readily available market quotations, the fund would promptly request the listing exchange to halt trading on the fund. In addition, to the extent T. Rowe Price determines that a security held in a fund’s portfolio but not in the Proxy Portfolio does not have readily available market quotations and such circumstance may affect the reliability of the Proxy Portfolio as an arbitrage vehicle, that information, along with the identity and weighting of that security in the fund’s portfolio, will be publicly disclosed on the fund’s website.

Authorized Participant Just like ETFs that disclose holdings daily, at certain times, the fund’s shares may have a limited number of active “Authorized Participants,” which are financial institutions that are able to transact daily with the fund to purchase and redeem a large specified number of shares of the fund. To the extent they cannot or otherwise are unwilling to engage in creation and redemption transactions, and no other Authorized Participant steps in, shares of the fund may trade at a significant discount or premium to NAV and may face trading halts and delisting from the exchange. Additionally, ETFs that do not disclose portfolio holdings daily are novel, which may limit the number of entities willing to act as Authorized Participants during times of market stress.

Enhanced index investing Although the fund seeks to match or incrementally exceed the performance of its benchmark index, holdings are generally not reallocated based on changes in market conditions or outlook for a specific security, industry, or market sector in the same manner as other actively managed funds. As a result, the fund’s performance may lag the performance of other actively managed funds. Additionally, because the fund is designed to have similar characteristics to the Index, there is expected to be a relatively close correlation between the fund’s performance and the performance of the Index in both rising and falling markets. However, when compared to a fund that follows a strict indexing strategy, there is a


   

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much greater chance that the fund’s performance will deviate from the Index (referred to as “tracking error”) and the potential for higher portfolio turnover, which increases the possibility of taxable distributions to shareholders and results in higher transaction costs to the fund.

Market conditions The value of the fund’s investments may decrease, sometimes rapidly or unexpectedly, due to factors affecting an issuer held by the fund, particular industries, or the overall securities markets. A variety of factors can increase the volatility of the fund’s holdings and markets generally, including political or regulatory developments, recessions, inflation, rapid interest rate changes, war, military conflict, or acts of terrorism, natural disasters, and outbreaks of infectious illnesses or other widespread public health issues such as the coronavirus pandemic and related governmental and public responses (including sanctions). Certain events may cause instability across global markets, including reduced liquidity and disruptions in trading markets, while some events may affect certain geographic regions, countries, sectors, and industries more significantly than others. Government intervention in markets may impact interest rates, market volatility, and security pricing. These adverse developments may cause broad declines in market value due to short-term market movements or for significantly longer periods during more prolonged market downturns.

Stock investing Stocks generally fluctuate in value more than bonds and may decline significantly over short time periods. There is a chance that stock prices overall will decline because stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising and falling prices. The value of stocks held by the fund may decline due to general weakness or volatility in the stock markets in which the fund invests or because of factors that affect a particular company or industry.

Nondiversification As a nondiversified fund, the fund has the ability to invest a larger percentage of its assets in the securities of a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund. As a result, poor performance by a single issuer could adversely affect fund performance more than if the fund were invested in a larger number of issuers. The fund’s share price can be expected to fluctuate more than that of a similar fund that is more broadly diversified.

Sector exposure At times, the fund may have a significant portion of its assets invested in securities of issuers conducting business in a broadly related group of industries within the same economic sector. Issuers in the same economic sector may be similarly affected by economic or market events, making the fund more vulnerable to unfavorable developments in that economic sector than funds that invest more broadly.

Information technology sector Information technology companies face intense competition, both domestically and internationally, which may have an adverse effect on their profit margins. Like other technology companies, information technology companies may have limited product lines, markets, financial resources, or personnel. The products of information technology companies may face obsolescence due to rapid technological developments, frequent new product introduction, unpredictable changes in growth rates, and competition for the services of qualified personnel. Companies in the information technology sector are heavily dependent on patent and intellectual property rights. The loss or impairment of these rights may adversely affect the profitability of these companies.


   

SUMMARY

5

Large-cap stocks Securities issued by large-cap companies tend to be less volatile than securities issued by smaller companies. However, larger companies may not be able to attain the high growth rates of successful smaller companies, especially during strong economic periods, and may be unable to respond as quickly to competitive challenges.

Active management The fund’s overall investment program and holdings selected by the fund’s investment adviser may underperform the broad markets, relevant indices, or other funds with similar objectives and investment strategies.

Cybersecurity breaches The fund could be harmed by intentional cyberattacks and other cybersecurity breaches, including unauthorized access to the fund’s assets, customer data and confidential shareholder information, or other proprietary information. In addition, a cybersecurity breach could cause one of the fund’s service providers or financial intermediaries to suffer unauthorized data access, data corruption, or loss of operational functionality.

Performance

Performance history will be presented after the fund has been in operation for one full calendar year.

Current performance information is available through troweprice.com.

Management

Investment Adviser T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. (T. Rowe Price or Price Associates)

       

Portfolio Manager

Title

Managed Fund Since

Joined Investment
Adviser

Ann M. Holcomb

Cochair of
Investment Advisory Committee

2021

1996

Jason Nogueira

Cochair of
Investment Advisory Committee

2021

2004

Jason Benjamin Polun

Cochair of
Investment Advisory Committee

2021

2007

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The fund issues and redeems shares at NAV only with Authorized Participants and only in large blocks of 5,000 shares (each, a “Creation Unit”). Individual fund shares may not be purchased or redeemed directly with the fund. An Authorized Participant may purchase or redeem a Creation Unit of the fund each business day that the fund is open in exchange for the delivery of a designated portfolio of in-kind securities and/or cash.

Individual fund shares may be purchased and sold only on a national securities exchange through brokers. Shares are listed for trading on NYSE Arca, Inc. and because the shares will trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at prices greater than NAV (at a premium), at NAV, or less than NAV (at a discount).


   

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Tax Information

Any fund distributions are typically declared and paid in December. A distribution may consist of ordinary dividends, capital gains, and return of capital. Redemptions or sales of fund shares and distributions by the fund generally may be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains unless you invest through a tax-deferred account (in which case you will be taxed upon withdrawal from such account).

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase shares of the fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), T. Rowe Price and its affiliates may pay the intermediary for the sale of fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.


     

MORE ABOUT THE FUND

 

2

   
MANAGEMENT OF THE FUND

Investment Adviser(s)

T. Rowe Price is the fund’s investment adviser and oversees the selection of the fund’s investments and management of the fund’s portfolio pursuant to an investment management agreement between the investment adviser and the fund. T. Rowe Price is the investment adviser for all funds sponsored and managed by T. Rowe Price (T. Rowe Price Funds); is an SEC-registered investment adviser that provides investment management services to individual and institutional investors and sponsors; and serves as adviser and subadviser to registered investment companies, institutional separate accounts, and common trust funds. The address for T. Rowe Price is 100 East Pratt Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21202. As of December 31, 2021, T. Rowe Price and its affiliates (Firm) had approximately $1.69 trillion in assets under management and provided investment management services for more than 6.4 million individual and institutional investor accounts.

Portfolio Management

T. Rowe Price has established an Investment Advisory Committee with respect to the fund. The committee cochairs are ultimately responsible for the day-to-day management of the fund’s portfolio and work with the committee in developing and executing the fund’s investment program. The members of the committee are as follows: Ann M. Holcomb, Jason Nogueira, and Jason Benjamin Polun, cochairs, Jason Adams, Kennard W. Allen, Joseph B. Fath, Mark S. Finn, Jon Michael Friar, Alexa Gagliardi, Ryan S. Hedrick, Weijie (Vivian) Si, Matthew J. Snowling, James Stillwagon, Anthony Bruce Wang, and Justin P. White. The following information provides the year that the cochairs first joined the Firm and the cochairs’ specific business experience during the past five years (although the cochairs may have had portfolio management responsibilities for a longer period). Ms. Holcomb and Mr. Polun have been cochairs of the committee since the fund’s inception. Mr. Nogueira became a cochair along with Ms. Holcomb and Mr. Polun in October of 2021. Ms. Holcomb joined the Firm in 1996, and her investment experience dates from 1995. During the past five years, she has served as a Director of Research, North America and a portfolio manager. Mr. Nogueira joined the Firm in 2004, and his investment experience dates from 2001. Since joining the Firm, he has served as a portfolio manager (beginning in 2016) and as an equity research analyst and assisted other portfolio managers in executing certain of the Firm’s equity strategies. Mr. Polun initially joined the Firm in 2003, rejoined the Firm in 2007, and his investment experience dates from 2003. During the past five years, he has served as a Director of Equity Research, North America, and a portfolio manager. The committee works closely with a portfolio oversight team and a group of T. Rowe Price equity research analysts to implement the fund’s overall investment program. The portfolio oversight team is responsible for, among other things, ensuring adherence to portfolio constraints, monitoring risk controls, and helping to


   

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manage cash flows into and out of the fund. The members of the fund’s portfolio oversight team are portfolio managers Ann M. Holcomb, Jason Nogueira, and Jason Benjamin Polun, as well as Ira W. Carnahan, Alexa M. Gagliardi, and Tamzin Manning. The Statement of Additional Information (SAI) provides additional information about the portfolio managers’ compensation, other accounts managed by the portfolio managers, and the portfolio managers’ ownership of the fund’s shares.

The Management Fee

The fund pays the investment adviser an annual all-inclusive management fee of 0.34% based on the fund’s average daily net assets. The management fee is calculated and accrued daily, and it includes investment management services and ordinary, recurring operating expenses, except for certain expenses. The following expenses are excluded from the all-inclusive management fee: interest and borrowing expenses, taxes, brokerage commissions and other transaction costs, fund proxy expenses, and nonrecurring and extraordinary expenses.

A discussion about the factors considered by the fund’s Board of Directors (Board) and its conclusions in approving the fund’s investment management agreement (and any subadvisory agreement, if applicable) appear in the fund’s shareholder report for the period ended June 30.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE FUND’S INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE(S), STRATEGIES, AND RISKS

Investment Objective(s)

The fund seeks to provide long-term capital growth.

The fund’s investment objective(s) constitutes a non-fundamental policy that the Board may change without shareholder approval upon 60 days’ prior written notice to shareholders. The fundamental and non-fundamental policies of the fund are set forth in the SAI.

Principal Investment Strategies

The fund will normally invest at least 80% of its assets in U.S. equity securities (or futures that have similar economic characteristics), as a policy. Shareholders will receive at least 60 days’ prior notice of a change in this policy. The strategy attempts to create a portfolio with similar characteristics to the Index with the potential to provide excess returns relative to the Index. The fund uses a disciplined portfolio construction process whereby it weights each sector and industry approximately the same as the Index. Within each sector and industry, the weighting of individual fund holdings can vary significantly from their weighting within the Index. The fund, which may be considered an “enhanced index” fund, attempts to outperform the Index by overweighting those stocks that are viewed favorably relative to their weighting in the Index, and underweighting or avoiding those stocks that are viewed negatively. The fund may also purchase securities that are not in the Index, but at least 80% of the fund’s total assets will normally be invested in securities that are in the Index at the time of purchase.


   

MORE ABOUT THE FUND

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A portfolio oversight team, which includes the portfolio managers, is responsible for the overall structure of the fund and for developing rules for portfolio construction. The portfolio oversight team seeks to take advantage of T. Rowe Price’s fundamental research by assigning equity analysts to select stocks for the fund within industries where they have focused expertise. The equity analysts are responsible for selecting stocks and determining the stocks’ weights within their industry-specific portfolios, subject to the oversight and discretion of the portfolio managers who work closely with the analysts. The analysts and portfolio managers rely on fundamental research, which considers various factors such as the quality of a company’s management team and its business franchise, earnings growth potential of a company and its market sector, and valuation. The fund’s portfolio oversight team evaluates the performance of the overall portfolio and the analysts’ stock selections, tracking and aligning the fund’s risk characteristics with those of the S&P 500 Index, monitoring the portfolio’s exposures to industries and sectors, managing cash flows into and out of the fund, and ensuring overall compliance by the analysts with the fund’s portfolio construction principles. The portfolio managers are responsible for selecting stocks that meet the fund’s investment criteria, but have not yet been assigned to an analyst.

The fund will generally remain fully invested (less than 5% in cash reserves) and seeks to be sector neutral when compared to the Index. While the majority of assets will be invested in large-capitalization U.S. common stocks, the fund may have small- and mid-capitalization and foreign exposure in keeping with fund objectives. The fund may at times invest significantly in certain sectors, such as the information technology sector.

The fund is an actively-managed ETF that does not disclose portfolio holdings daily, unlike ETFs that disclose holdings daily. The fund invests primarily in exchange-traded securities that trade synchronously with the fund’s shares, cash, and cash equivalents. Daily disclosure of portfolio holdings allows other traders to predict or copy the fund’s investment strategy, which in turn can hurt the fund’s performance. Therefore, the fund discloses portfolio holdings on a quarterly basis, similar to mutual funds. In order to provide market participants with information on the fund’s investments, the fund will publish a “Proxy Portfolio” on its website daily.

A Proxy Portfolio is a basket of securities that is designed to closely track the daily performance of the fund’s portfolio holdings. While the Proxy Portfolio includes some of the fund’s holdings, it is not the fund’s actual portfolio. The Proxy Portfolio could be based on a broad-based securities index or the fund’s recently disclosed portfolio holdings. The Proxy Portfolio can change at any time, but is generally expected to change quarterly. To the extent the adviser determines that a security held in the fund’s portfolio but not in the Proxy Portfolio does not have readily available market quotations and such circumstance may affect the reliability of the Proxy Portfolio as an arbitrage vehicle, that information, along with the identity and weighting of that security in the fund’s portfolio, will be publicly disclosed on the fund’s website.

The fund will also provide several portfolio statistics. The Portfolio Overlap is the percentage weight overlap between the holdings of the prior business day’s Proxy Portfolio compared to the holdings of the fund that formed the basis for the fund’s calculation of NAV at the end of


   

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the prior business day. The Proxy Portfolio and Portfolio Overlap are available on the fund’s website on a daily basis, along with the fund’s Daily Deviation, Tracking Error, and Empirical Percentiles, each described below. Daily Deviation shows the difference in performance between the NAV of the fund and the NAV of the Proxy Portfolio. Tracking Error is the deviation over the past three months of the daily proxy spread (i.e., the difference, in percentage terms, between the Proxy Portfolio’s per share NAV and that of the fund at the end of the trading day). Empirical Percentiles shows frequency and magnitude of performance differences between the fund and the Proxy Portfolio over time. The Proxy Portfolio and these other metrics described are intended to provide investors and traders with enough information to allow for an effective arbitrage mechanism, which keeps the market price of the fund’s shares at or close to the underlying NAV per share of the fund. The exchange will disseminate an INAV of the fund, which is based on the fund’s portfolio holdings, every fifteen seconds during the regular trading day. Additional information about the INAV, including the methodology for calculation and risks are available in the fund’s SAI.

The fund is “nondiversified,” meaning it may invest a greater portion of its assets in fewer issuers than is permissible for a “diversified” fund.

The Firm integrates environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into its investment research process when applicable. While ESG matters vary widely, we generally consider ESG to mean: Environmental or “E” matters, such as climate change, resource depletion, waste, pollution, or deforestation; Social or “S” matters, such as companies’ relationships with their employees and suppliers, including labor standards, diversity, and human rights issues; and Governance or “G” matters, such as shareholder rights, bribery and corruption, executive pay, and board composition. We focus on the ESG factors we consider most likely to have a material impact on the performance of the holdings in the fund’s portfolio.

In pursuing its investment objective(s), the fund has the discretion to deviate from its normal investment criteria. These situations might arise when the adviser believes a security could increase in value for a variety of reasons, including an extraordinary corporate event, a new product introduction or innovation, a favorable competitive development, or a change in management. In all circumstances, the fund will limit allowable investments to those investments described in the SAI and be consistent with the fund’s investment policies.

The fund may sell securities for a variety of reasons, including to realize gains, limit losses, or redeploy assets into more promising opportunities.

The fund invests in the following types of securities or assets:

Common and Preferred Stocks Stocks represent shares of ownership in a company. Generally, preferred stocks have a specified dividend rate and rank after bonds and before common stocks in their claim on income for dividend payments and on assets should the company be liquidated. After other claims are satisfied, common stockholders participate in company profits on a pro-rata basis and profits may be paid out in dividends or reinvested in the company to help it grow. Increases and decreases in earnings are usually reflected in a company’s stock price, so common stocks generally have the greatest appreciation and


   

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depreciation potential of all corporate securities. Unlike common stock, preferred stock does not ordinarily carry voting rights. While most preferred stocks pay a dividend, the fund may decide to purchase preferred stock where the issuer has suspended, or is in danger of suspending, payment of its dividend.

Principal Risks

The principal risks of investing in this fund, which may be even greater in bad or uncertain market conditions, are summarized as follows:

Proxy portfolio structure The fund does not disclose portfolio holdings daily. The fund uses a Proxy Portfolio, which is a basket of securities that is designed to closely track the daily performance of the fund’s portfolio holdings. The fund may not always effectively construct a proxy portfolio that closely tracks the daily performance of the fund’s portfolio holdings. Because the fund uses a Proxy Portfolio, there is a risk that the fund’s shares may trade at a wider bid/ask spread than shares of ETFs that publish their portfolios on a daily basis. This risk is heightened during periods of market disruption and volatility, and, therefore, may cost you more to trade. Although the fund seeks to benefit from keeping its portfolio information confidential, other traders may attempt to use the Proxy Portfolio and publicly available information, including intraday net asset value (INAV) to identify the fund’s trading strategy, which, if successful, could result in such traders engaging in certain predatory trading practices that may have the potential to harm the fund and its shareholders. Because the fund’s shares are traded in the secondary market, a broker may charge a commission to execute a transaction in shares, and you may incur the cost of the spread between the price at which a dealer will buy shares and the somewhat higher price at which a dealer will sell shares. The INAV calculations are estimates of the value of the fund’s NAV per share. Premiums and discounts between the INAV and the market price may occur. The INAV should not be viewed as a “real-time” update of the NAV per share.

Premium/Discount Although the Proxy Portfolio is intended to provide investors with enough information to allow for an effective arbitrage mechanism that will keep the market price of the fund at or close to the underlying NAV per share of the fund, there is a risk (which may increase during periods of market disruption or volatility) that market prices will vary significantly from the underlying NAV per share of the fund. These price differences may be greater for this fund compared to ETFs that disclose holdings daily because it provides different portfolio holdings information to traders. The adviser will monitor on an ongoing basis how shares trade, including the level of any market price premium or discount to NAV and the bid/ask spreads on market transactions. The Board will promptly meet and determine whether to take action if (1) if the Tracking Error exceeds 1.00%; or (2) if, for 30 or more days in any quarter or 15 days in a row: (a) the absolute difference between either the closing price or the bid/ask price, on the one hand, and the fund’s NAV, on the other, exceeds 2.00%, or (b) the bid/ask spread exceeds 2.00%. The SAI provides more information.

Trading halt It is possible that an active trading market for the shares will not be maintained, or that trading in the shares will be halted for reasons such as market-wide trading halts or the shares no longer meeting the listing requirements of the exchange. If securities representing


   

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10% or more of the fund’s portfolio do not have readily available market quotations, the fund would promptly request the listing exchange to halt trading on the fund. Trading halts may have a greater impact on the fund, compared to ETFs that disclose holdings daily. In addition, to the extent T. Rowe Price determines that a security held in a fund’s portfolio but not in the Proxy Portfolio does not have readily available market quotations and such circumstance may affect the reliability of the Proxy Portfolio as an arbitrage vehicle, that information, along with the identity and weighting of that security in the fund’s portfolio, will be publicly disclosed on the fund’s website.

Authorized Participant Just like ETFs that disclose holdings daily, at certain times, the fund’s shares may have a limited number of active “Authorized Participants,” which are financial institutions that are able to transact daily with the fund to purchase and redeem a large specified number of shares of the fund. To the extent they cannot or otherwise are unwilling to engage in creation and redemption transactions, and no other Authorized Participant steps in, shares of the fund may trade at a significant discount or premium to NAV and may face trading halts and delisting from the exchange. Additionally, ETFs that do not disclose portfolio holdings daily are novel, which may limit the number of entities willing to act as Authorized Participants during times of market stress. Also, as these are new types of ETFs, they have not yet proven to have an effective arbitrage mechanism.

Enhanced index investing Although the fund seeks to match or incrementally exceed the performance of its benchmark index, holdings are generally not reallocated based on changes in market conditions or outlook for a specific security, industry, or market sector in the same manner as other actively managed funds. As a result, the fund’s performance may lag the performance of other actively managed funds. Additionally, because the fund is designed to have similar characteristics to the Index, there is expected to be a relatively close correlation between the fund’s performance and the performance of the Index in both rising and falling markets. However, when compared to a fund that follows a strict indexing strategy, there is a much greater chance that the fund’s performance will deviate from the Index (referred to as “tracking error”) and the potential for higher portfolio turnover, which increases the possibility of taxable distributions to shareholders and results in higher transaction costs to the fund.

Market conditions The value of investments held by the fund may decline, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, due to factors affecting certain issuers, particular industries or sectors, or the overall markets. Rapid or unexpected changes in market conditions could cause the fund to liquidate its holdings at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value. The value of a particular holding may decrease due to developments related to that issuer but also due to general market conditions, including real or perceived economic developments, such as changes in interest rates, credit quality, inflation, or currency rates, or generally adverse investor sentiment. The value of a holding may also decline due to factors that negatively affect a particular industry or sector, such as labor shortages, increased production costs, or competitive conditions. In addition, local, regional, or global events such as war, military conflict, acts of terrorism, political and social unrest, regulatory changes, recessions, shifts in monetary or trade policies, natural or environmental disasters, and the spread of infectious diseases or other public health issues could have a significant negative impact on securities


   

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markets and the fund’s investments. Any of these events may lead to unexpected suspensions or closures of securities exchanges; travel restrictions or quarantines; business disruptions and closures; inability to obtain raw materials, supplies and component parts; reduced or disrupted operations for the fund’s service providers or issuers in which the fund invests; and an extended adverse impact on global market conditions. Government intervention in markets may impact interest rates, market volatility, and security pricing. The occurrence, reoccurrence, and uncertainty of widespread diseases and health crises could adversely affect the economies (including through changes in business activity and increased unemployment) and financial markets of specific countries or worldwide.

Stock investing The fund’s share price can fall because of weakness in the overall stock markets, a particular industry, or specific holdings. Stock markets as a whole can be volatile and decline for many reasons, such as adverse local, political, regulatory, or economic developments; changes in investor psychology; or heavy institutional selling at the same time by major institutional investors in the market. The prospects for an industry or company may deteriorate because of a variety of factors, including disappointing earnings or changes in the competitive environment. In addition, the adviser’s assessment of companies whose stocks are held by the fund may prove incorrect, resulting in losses or poor performance, even in rising markets. In the event an issuer is liquidated or declares bankruptcy, the claims of owners of the issuer’s bonds and preferred stock take precedence over the claims of those who own common stock.

Nondiversification Because the fund is nondiversified and thus can invest more of its assets in a smaller number of issuers, it is more exposed to the risks associated with an individual issuer than a fund that invests more broadly across many issuers. For example, poor performance by a single large holding of the fund would adversely affect the fund’s performance more than if the fund were invested in a larger number of issuers.

Sector exposure At times, the fund may have a significant portion of its assets invested in securities of issuers conducting business in a related group of industries within the same economic sector. Issuers within the same economic sector may be similarly affected by specific market events impacting that sector. As a result, the fund is more susceptible to adverse developments affecting an economic sector in which the fund has significant investments and may perform poorly during a downturn in one or more of the industries within that economic sector.

Information technology sector Information technology companies face intense competition, both domestically and internationally, which may have an adverse effect on their profit margins. Like other technology companies, information technology companies may have limited product lines, markets, financial resources, or personnel. The products of information technology companies may face obsolescence due to rapid technological developments, frequent new product introduction, unpredictable changes in growth rates, and competition for the services of qualified personnel. Companies in the information technology sector are heavily dependent on patent and intellectual property rights. The loss or impairment of these rights may adversely affect the profitability of these companies.


   

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Large-cap stocks Although stocks issued by larger companies tend to have less overall volatility than stocks issued by smaller companies, larger companies may not be able to attain the high growth rates of successful smaller companies, especially during strong economic periods. In addition, larger companies may be less capable of responding quickly to competitive challenges and industry changes, and may suffer sharper price declines as a result of earnings disappointments.

Active management The investment adviser’s judgments about the attractiveness, value, or potential appreciation of the fund’s investments may prove to be incorrect. The fund could underperform other funds with a similar benchmark or similar investment program if the fund’s investment selections or overall strategies fail to produce the intended results. Regulatory, tax, or other developments may affect the investment strategies available to a portfolio manager, which could adversely affect the ability to implement the fund’s overall investment program and achieve the fund’s investment objective(s).

Cybersecurity breaches The fund may be subject to operational and information security risks resulting from breaches in cybersecurity. Cybersecurity breaches may involve deliberate attacks and unauthorized access to the digital information systems (for example, through “hacking” or malicious software coding) used by the fund or its third-party service providers but may also result from outside attacks such as denial-of-service attacks, which are efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users. These breaches may, among other things, result in financial losses to the fund and its shareholders, cause the fund to lose proprietary information, disrupt business operations, or result in the unauthorized release of confidential information. Further, cybersecurity breaches involving the fund’s third-party service providers, financial intermediaries, trading counterparties, or issuers in which the fund invests could subject the fund to many of the same risks associated with direct breaches.

Additional Investment Management Practices

The SAI contains more detailed information about the fund and its investments, operations, and expenses. The fund’s investments may be subject to further restrictions and risks described in the SAI.

Illiquid Investments An illiquid investment is any investment that a fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. The fund may not purchase any securities that are illiquid investments at the time of purchase. The fund may hold no more than 15% of the value of its assets in illiquid investments.

Temporary Defensive Position In order to respond to adverse market, economic, or political conditions, or to provide flexibility in meeting redemptions, paying expenses, managing cash flows into the fund, and responding to periods of unusual market volatility, the fund may assume a temporary defensive position that is inconsistent with its principal investment objective(s) and/or strategies.

Reserve Position A certain portion of the fund’s assets may be held in reserves. The fund’s reserve positions will typically consist of: (1) shares of a government money market fund;


   

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(2) short-term, high-quality U.S. money market securities, including repurchase agreements; and (3) U.S. dollar or non-U.S. dollar currencies. If the fund has significant holdings in reserves, it could compromise its ability to achieve its objective(s). Non-U.S. dollar reserves are subject to currency risk.

Borrowing Money and Transferring Assets The fund may not borrow for investment purposes or hold short positions. The fund may borrow from banks, other persons, and other T. Rowe Price funds for temporary or emergency purposes, to facilitate redemption requests, or for other purposes consistent with the fund’s policies as set forth in this prospectus and the SAI. Such borrowings may be collateralized with the fund’s assets, subject to certain restrictions.

Lending of Portfolio Securities The fund may lend its securities to broker-dealers, other institutions, or other persons to earn additional income. Risks include the potential insolvency of the broker-dealer or other borrower that could result in delays in recovering securities and capital losses. Additionally, losses could result from the reinvestment of collateral received on loaned securities in investments that decline in value, default, or do not perform as well as expected.

PORTFOLIO TURNOVER

Turnover is an indication of frequency of trading. Each time the fund purchases or sells a security, it incurs a cost. This cost is reflected in the fund’s net asset value but not in its operating expenses. The higher the turnover rate, the higher the transaction costs and the greater the impact on the fund’s total return. Higher turnover can also increase the possibility of taxable capital gain distributions. The fund’s portfolio turnover rate is shown in the Financial Highlights table.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

The Financial Highlights table, which provides information about the fund’s financial history, is based on a single share outstanding throughout the periods shown. The table is part of the fund’s financial statements, which are included in its annual report and are incorporated by reference into the SAI (available upon request). The financial statements in the annual report were audited by the fund’s independent registered public accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.


   

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FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

For a share outstanding throughout the period

   
 

6/8/21(1)
Through

 

12/31/21

NET ASSET VALUE

 

Beginning of period

$ 25.00

Investment activities

 

Net investment income(2) (3)

 0.14

Net realized and unrealized gain/loss

 3.23

Total from investment activities

 3.37

Distributions

 

Net investment income

 (0.12)

NET ASSET VALUE

 

End of period

$ 28.25

Ratios/Supplemental Data

Total return, based on NAV(3) (4)

 13.51%

Ratios to average net
assets:(3)

 

Gross expenses before
waivers/payments by
Price Associates

 0.34%(5)

Net expenses after
waivers/payments by
Price Associates

 0.34%(5)

Net investment income

 0.92%(5)

Portfolio turnover rate(6)

 13.0%

Net assets, end of period
(in thousands)

$ 23,165

   

(1)

Inception date

(2)

Per share amounts calculated using average shares outstanding method.

(3)

Includes the impact of expense-related arrangements with Price Associates.

(4)

Total return reflects the rate that an investor would have earned on an investment in the fund during the period, assuming reinvestment of all distributions. Total return is not annualized for periods less than one year.

(5)

Annualized

(6)

Portfolio turnover excludes securities received or delivered through in-kind share transactions.


   

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DISCLOSURE OF FUND PORTFOLIO INFORMATION

The fund generally discloses its calendar quarter-end portfolio holdings on troweprice.com 15 calendar days after each quarter. These holdings reports may exclude the issuer name and other information relating to a holding in order to protect the fund’s interests and prevent harm to the fund or its shareholders. In addition, the fund generally also discloses its 10 largest holdings on troweprice.com on the seventh business day after each month-end. These holdings are listed in numerical order based on such percentages of the fund’s assets. A description of the fund’s policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of portfolio information is available in the SAI.


     

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Additional Information about the Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Fund shares are issued or redeemed only in large blocks of 5,000 fund shares (previously defined as “Creation Units”) and only to financial institutions known as Authorized Participants, in accordance with procedures described in the SAI. Creation Unit transactions are conducted in exchange for the deposit or delivery of a designated basket of in-kind securities and/or cash at NAV next determined after receipt of an order in proper form. The fund’s Proxy Portfolio is the fund’s designated basket of cash and securities unless custom baskets are permitted or required by the fund. Creation Unit transactions may be made on any day that the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is open for business.

Individual shares may be purchased and sold only on a national securities exchange through brokers. Shares are listed for trading on NYSE Arca, Inc. and they may be sold at a premium or discount to NAV. When purchasing or redeeming Creation Units, Authorized Participants are also required to pay a fixed purchase or redemption transaction fee as well as any applicable additional variable charge, as described in the SAI.

An Authorized Participant may purchase or redeem a Creation Unit of a fund on any business day in exchange for the delivery of a designated portfolio of in-kind securities and/or cash. Information about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units (including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) and the applicable transaction fees is included in the fund’s SAI.

Meeting Redemption Requests

The fund anticipates regularly meeting redemption requests primarily through in-kind redemptions. However, the fund reserves the right to pay redemption proceeds to an Authorized Participant entirely or partly in cash, consistent with the exemptive relief that the fund received from the SEC to operate the fund (Exemptive Relief).

Cash used for redemptions will be raised from the sale of portfolio assets or may come from existing holdings of cash or cash equivalents. The fund, along with other T. Rowe Price funds, is a party to an interfund lending exemptive order received from the SEC that permits the T. Rowe Price funds to borrow money from and/or lend money to other T. Rowe Price funds to help the funds meet short-term redemptions and liquidity needs. In certain circumstances, the T. Rowe Price funds may also meet redemption requests through an overdraft of the fund’s account with its custodian. During periods of deteriorating or stressed market conditions, when an increased portion of the fund’s portfolio may be composed of holdings with reduced liquidity or lengthy settlement periods, or during extraordinary or emergency circumstances, the fund may be more likely to pay redemption proceeds with cash obtained through interfund lending or short-term borrowing arrangements (if available).

Under normal circumstances, the fund will pay out redemption proceeds to a redeeming Authorized Participant within two days after the Authorized Participant’s redemption request is received, in accordance with the process set forth in the fund’s SAI and in the agreement between the Authorized Participant and the fund’s distributor. However, the fund reserves the


   

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right, including under stressed market conditions, to take up to seven days after the receipt of a redemption request to pay an Authorized Participant, as permitted by the 1940 Act. With respect to redemptions that include foreign common stock, the fund may pay out redemption proceeds or deliver the securities up to 15 days after the receipt of a redemption request, consistent with the fund’s Exemptive Relief.

Pricing of Individual Fund Shares

Market Price The trading prices of a fund’s shares in the secondary market (Market Price) generally differ from the fund’s daily NAV per share and are affected by market forces such as supply and demand, economic conditions and other factors. NAV is the price per share at which the fund issues and redeems shares to Authorized Participants in Creation Units (see “Net Asset Value” below). The fund’s Market Price is based on the current Bid/Ask Price in the secondary market. The “Closing Price” of shares is the official closing price of shares on the fund’s listing exchange. The “Bid/Ask Price” is the midpoint of the highest bid and lowest offer on the National Best Bid and Offer at the time that the fund’s NAV is calculated. The “National Best Bid and Offer” is the current national best bid and national best offer as disseminated by the Consolidated Quotation System or UTP Plan Securities Information Processor. You may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid/ask spread”). Please refer to the fund’s website for additional information (troweprice.com).

Premiums and Discounts The “premium/discount” refers to the premium or discount to NAV at the end of a trading day and will be calculated based on the last Bid/Ask Price or the Closing Price on a given trading day. The NAV of a fund will fluctuate with changes in the market value of its portfolio holdings. The Market Price of a fund will fluctuate in accordance with changes in its NAV, as well as market supply and demand. A premium is the amount that a fund is trading above the reported NAV, expressed as a percentage of the NAV. A discount is the amount that a fund is trading below the reported NAV, expressed as a percentage of the NAV. A discount or premium could be significant. Information regarding the frequency of daily premiums or discounts, generally at the time the NAV is calculated, during a fund’s four previous quarters (or for the life of the fund) can be found at troweprice.com.

Net Asset Value To calculate the fund’s NAV, the fund’s assets are valued and totaled, liabilities are subtracted, and the balance, called net assets, is divided by the number of the fund’s shares outstanding. On each day that the NYSE is open, fund shares are ordinarily valued as of the close of regular trading. Information that becomes known to the fund or its agents after the time as of which NAV has been calculated on a particular day will not generally be used to retroactively adjust the price of a security or the NAV determined earlier that day. The fund reserves the right to change the time its NAV is calculated if the fund or NYSE closes earlier, or as permitted by the SEC.

The fund’s NAV is based on the fund’s portfolio holdings. Market values are used to price portfolio holdings for which market quotations are readily available. Market values generally reflect the prices at which securities actually trade or represent prices that have been adjusted


   

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based on evaluations and information provided by the fund’s pricing services. Investments in government money market funds are valued at the closing NAV per share of that government money market fund on the day of valuation. If a market value for a portfolio holding is not available or normal valuation procedures are deemed to be inappropriate, the fund will make a good faith effort to assign a fair value to the holding by taking into account various factors and methodologies that have been approved by the fund’s Board. This value may differ from the value the fund receives upon sale of the securities. The fund may also fair value certain securities or a group of securities if, for example, an event occurs that affects the value of a security after the close of the market.

Investments by registered investment companies

Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act restricts investments by registered investment companies in the securities of other investment companies, including shares of the fund. T. Rowe Price has Exemptive Relief that allows registered investment companies to invest in the shares of the fund beyond the limits of Section 12(d)(1), subject to certain terms and conditions, including the requirement to enter into a participation agreement.

Frequent Purchases and Redemptions of Fund Shares

The Board has not adopted policies and procedures designed to prevent or monitor for frequent purchases and redemptions of the fund’s shares because the fund sells and redeems shares at NAV only in Creation Units, pursuant to the terms of the agreement between the Authorized Participant and the fund’s distributor, and such direct trading between the fund and Authorized Participants is critical to ensuring that the fund’s shares trade at or close to NAV. Further, the vast majority of trading in fund shares occurs on the secondary market, which does not involve the fund directly and, therefore, does not cause the fund to experience many of the harmful effects of market timing, such as dilution and disruption of portfolio management. In addition, the fund may impose a transaction fee on Creation Unit transactions, which is designed to offset transfer and other transaction costs incurred by the fund in connection with the issuance and redemption of Creation Units, and may employ fair valuation pricing to minimize potential dilution from market timing. The fund reserves the right to reject any purchase order at any time and reserves the right to impose restrictions on disruptive, excessive, or short-term trading.

Compensation to Financial Intermediaries

T. Rowe Price or the fund’s distributor will, at their own expense, provide compensation to certain financial intermediaries that have sold shares of or provide shareholder or other services to the T. Rowe Price Funds, commonly referred to as revenue sharing. These payments may be in the form of asset-based, transaction-based, or flat payments. These payments are used to compensate third parties for distribution, shareholder servicing, or other services. Some of these payments may include expense reimbursements and meeting and marketing support payments (out of T. Rowe Price’s or the fund’s distributor’s own resources and not as an expense of the funds) to financial intermediaries, such as broker-dealers or registered investment advisers, in connection with the sale, distribution, marketing, and/or servicing of


   

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the T. Rowe Price Funds. The SAI provides more information about these payment arrangements.

The receipt of, or the prospect of receiving, these payments and expense reimbursements from T. Rowe Price or the fund’s distributor may influence financial intermediaries, plan sponsors, and other third parties to offer or recommend T. Rowe Price Funds over other investment options for which an intermediary does not receive additional compensation (or receives lower levels of additional compensation). In addition, financial intermediaries that receive these payments and/or expense reimbursements may elevate the prominence of the T. Rowe Price Funds by, for example, placing the T. Rowe Price Funds on a list of preferred or recommended funds and/or provide preferential or enhanced opportunities to promote the T. Rowe Price Funds in various ways. Since these additional payments are not paid by a fund directly, these arrangements do not increase fund expenses and will not change the price that an investor pays for shares of the T. Rowe Price Funds or the amount that is invested in a T. Rowe Price Fund on behalf of an investor. You may ask your financial intermediary for more information about any payments they receive from T. Rowe Price or the fund’s distributor.

Dividends and Distributions

The fund distributes substantially all of its net investment income to shareholders in the form of dividends. In addition, the fund distributes any net capital gains earned from the sale of portfolio securities to shareholders no less frequently than annually. Dividend payments are made through Depository Trust Company (DTC) participants and indirect participants to beneficial owners then of record with proceeds received from the fund.

The following table provides details on dividend payments:

   

Dividend Payment Schedule

Fund

Dividends

Blue Chip Growth, Growth Stock, and U.S. Structured Research

· Dividends, if any, are declared and paid annually, generally in December.

· Must be a shareholder on the dividend record date.

Dividend Growth and Equity Income

· Dividends, if any, are declared and paid quarterly, in March, June, September, and December.

· Must be a shareholder on the dividend record date.

All funds

· If necessary, a fund may make additional distributions in short notice to minimize any fund level tax liabilities.

No dividend reinvestment service is provided by the fund. Financial intermediaries may make available the DTC book-entry dividend reinvestment service for use by beneficial owners of fund shares for reinvestment of their dividend distributions. Beneficial owners should contact their financial intermediary to determine the availability and costs of the service and the details of participation therein. Financial intermediaries may require beneficial owners to adhere to specific procedures and timetables. If this service is available and used, dividend distributions of both income and net capital gains will be automatically reinvested in additional whole shares of the fund purchased in the secondary market.


   

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Tax Consequences

The following information is meant as a general summary for U.S. taxpayers. You should rely on your own tax adviser for advice about the particular federal, state and local tax consequences to you of investing in the fund. Your financial intermediary is responsible for providing you with any necessary tax forms. You should contact your financial intermediary for the tax information that will be sent to you and reported to the Internal Revenue Service.

In most cases, your financial intermediary will provide information for your tax filing needs no later than mid-February.

If you invest in the fund through a tax-deferred account, such as an IRA or employer-sponsored retirement plan, you will not be subject to tax on dividends and distributions from the fund or the sale of fund shares if those amounts remain in the tax-deferred account. You may receive a Form 1099-R or other Internal Revenue Service forms, as applicable, if any portion of the account is distributed to you.

If you invest in the fund through a taxable account, you generally will be subject to tax when:

· You sell fund shares.

· The fund makes dividend or capital gain distributions.

For individual shareholders, a portion of ordinary dividends representing “qualified dividend income” received by the fund may be subject to tax at the lower rates applicable to long-term capital gains rather than ordinary income. You may report it as “qualified dividend income” in computing your taxes, provided you have held the fund shares on which the dividend was paid for more than 60 days during the 121-day period beginning 60 days before the ex-dividend date. Ordinary dividends that do not qualify for this lower rate are generally taxable at the investor’s marginal income tax rate. This includes the portion of ordinary dividends derived from interest, short-term capital gains, income and gains from derivatives, and dividends received by the fund from stocks that were on loan. For taxable years ending after December 31, 2017, and before January 1, 2026, you are generally allowed a deduction up to 20% on your qualified real estate investment trust (REIT) dividends. You may not take this deduction for a dividend on shares of a fund that have been held for less than 46 days during the 91-day period beginning on the date 45 days before the ex-dividend date.

For corporate shareholders, a portion of ordinary dividends may be eligible for the deduction for dividends received by corporations to the extent the fund’s income consists of dividends paid by U.S. corporations.

A 3.8% net investment income tax is imposed on net investment income, including interest, dividends, and capital gains of U.S. individuals with income exceeding $200,000 (or $250,000 if married filing jointly) and of estates and trusts.

Taxes on Sales of Fund Shares

When you sell shares in the fund, you may realize a gain or loss.


   

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All or a portion of the loss realized from a sale or exchange of fund shares may be disallowed under the “wash sale” rule if you purchase substantially identical shares within a 61-day period beginning 30 days before and ending 30 days after the date on which the shares are sold. Shares of the same fund you acquire through dividend reinvestment are shares purchased for the purpose of the wash sale rule and may trigger a disallowance of the loss for shares sold within the 61-day period of the dividend reinvestment. Any loss disallowed under the wash sale rule is added to the cost basis of the purchased shares.

Your financial intermediary should make available to you Form 1099-B, if applicable, no later than mid-February, providing certain information for each sale you made in the fund during the prior year. Unless otherwise indicated on your Form 1099-B, this information will also be reported to the Internal Revenue Service. You should check with your financial intermediary regarding the applicable cost basis method. You should, however, note that the cost basis information reported to you may not always be the same as what you should report on your tax return because the rules applicable to the determination of cost basis on Form 1099-B may be different from the rules applicable to the determination of cost basis for reporting on your tax return. Therefore, you should save your transaction records to make sure the information reported on your tax return is accurate.

Taxes on Fund Distributions

Your financial intermediary will make available to you, as applicable, generally no later than mid-February, a Form 1099-DIV, or other Internal Revenue Service forms, as required, indicating the tax status of any income dividends, dividends exempt from federal income taxes, and capital gain distributions made to you. This information will be reported to the Internal Revenue Service. Taxable distributions are generally taxable to you in the year in which they are paid. A dividend declared in October, November, or December and paid in the following January is generally treated as taxable to you as if you received the distribution in December. Ordinary dividends and capital gain dividends may also be subject to state and local taxes. Your financial intermediary will send any additional information you need to determine your taxes on fund distributions, such as the portion of your dividends, if any, that may be exempt from state and local income taxes.

Taxable distributions are subject to tax whether reinvested in additional shares or received in cash.

The tax treatment of a capital gain distribution is determined by how long the fund held the portfolio securities, not how long you held the shares in the fund. Short-term (one year or less) capital gain distributions are taxable at the same rate as ordinary income, and gains on securities held more than one year are taxed at the lower rates applicable to long-term capital gains. A fund may redeem Creation Units in part or entirely in cash. As a result, it may have more capital gain distributions than it will if it redeems Creation Units in-kind. If you realized a loss on the sale of fund shares that you held six months or less, your short-term capital loss must be reclassified as a long-term capital loss to the extent of any long-term capital gain distributions received during the period you held the shares.


   

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The fund’s distributions that have exceeded the fund’s earnings and profits for the relevant tax year may be treated as a return of capital to its shareholders. A return of capital distribution is generally nontaxable but reduces the shareholder’s cost basis in the fund, and any return of capital in excess of the cost basis will result in a capital gain.

The tax status of certain distributions may be recharacterized on year-end tax forms, such as your Form 1099-DIV. Distributions made by a fund may later be recharacterized for federal income tax purposes—for example, from taxable ordinary income dividends to returns of capital. A recharacterization of distributions may occur for a number of reasons, including the recharacterization of income received from underlying investments.

If the fund qualifies and elects to pass through nonrefundable foreign income taxes paid to foreign governments during the year, your portion of such taxable income. However, you may be able to claim an offsetting credit or deduction on your tax return for those amounts. There can be no assurance that a fund will meet the requirements to pass through foreign income taxes paid.

If you are subject to backup withholding, your financial intermediary will have to withhold a 24% backup withholding tax on distributions and, in some cases, redemption payments. You may be subject to backup withholding if your financial intermediary is notified by the Internal Revenue Service to withhold, you have failed one or more tax certification requirements, or your financial intermediary’s records indicate that your tax identification number is missing or incorrect. Backup withholding is not an additional tax and is generally available to credit against your federal income tax liability with any excess refunded to you by the Internal Revenue Service.

Tax Consequences of Hedging

Entering into certain transactions involving futures may result in the application of the mark-to-market and straddle provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. These provisions could result in the fund being required to distribute gains on such transactions even though it did not close the contracts during the year or receive cash to pay such distributions. The fund may not be able to reduce its distributions for losses on such transactions to the extent of unrealized gains in offsetting positions.

Tax Consequences of Shareholder Turnover

If the fund’s portfolio transactions result in a net capital loss (i.e., an excess of capital losses over capital gains) for any year, the loss may be carried forward and used to offset future realized capital gains. However, its ability to carry forward such losses will be limited if the fund experiences an “ownership change” within the meaning of the Internal Revenue Code. An ownership change generally results when shareholders owning 5% or more of the fund increase their aggregate holdings by more than 50 percentage points over a three-year period.

Because the fund may have only a few large shareholders, an ownership change can occur in the normal course of shareholder purchases and redemptions. The fund undertakes no obligation to avoid or prevent an ownership change. Moreover, because of circumstances beyond the fund’s control, there can be no assurance that the fund will not experience, or has


   

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not already experienced, an ownership change. An ownership change can reduce the fund’s ability to offset capital gains with losses, which could increase the amount of taxable gains that could be distributed to shareholders.

Tax Effect of Buying Shares Before an Income Dividend or Capital Gain Distribution

If you buy shares shortly before or on the record date—the date that establishes you as the person to receive the upcoming distribution—you may receive a portion of the money you just invested in the form of a taxable distribution. Therefore, you may wish to find out the fund’s record date before investing. In addition, the fund’s share price may, at any time, reflect undistributed capital gains or income and unrealized appreciation, which may result in future taxable distributions. Such distributions can occur even in a year when the fund has a negative return.

Taxes on Creation and Redemption of Creation Units

An Authorized Participant that exchanges securities for Creation Units may realize a gain or loss equal to the difference between the fair market value of the Creation Units at the time of purchase and the sum of the Authorized Participant’s cost basis in the securities transferred plus any cash paid.

An Authorized Participant that exchanges Creation Units for securities may realize a gain or loss equal to the difference between the Authorized Participant’s cost basis in the Creation Units and the sum of the fair market value of the securities plus any cash received.

Authorized Participants exchanging securities for Creation Units or redeeming Creation Units should consult with their own tax advisor.


The fund’s Statement of Additional Information, which contains a more detailed description of the fund’s operations, investment restrictions, policies, and practices, has been filed with the SEC. The Statement of Additional Information is incorporated by reference into this prospectus, which means that it is legally part of this prospectus even if you do not request a copy. Further information about the fund’s investments, including a review of market conditions and the manager’s recent investment strategies and their impact on performance during the past fiscal year, is available in the annual and semiannual shareholder reports. These documents and updated performance information are available through troweprice.com. For inquiries about the fund and to obtain free copies of any of these documents, call 1-800-638-5660. If you invest in the fund through a financial intermediary, you should contact your financial intermediary for copies of these documents.

Fund reports and other fund information are available on the EDGAR Database on the SEC’s internet site at sec.gov. Copies of this information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at [email protected].

   

 

T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.
100 East Pratt Street
Baltimore, MD 21202

 
   

1940 Act File No. 811-23494

ETF967-040 5/1/22