T. Rowe Price Equity Series Inc.

04/26/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/26/2024 05:52

Summary Prospectus by Investment Company - Form 497K

SUMMARY PROSPECTUS

May 1, 2024

T. ROWE PRICE

Health Sciences Portfolio

QAAGZX

QAAHBX

Health Sciences Portfolio

Health Sciences Portfolio-II Class

The fund is only available as an investment option for variable annuity and variable life insurance contracts.

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.

Before you invest, you may want to review the fund's prospectus, which contains more information about the fund and its risks. You can find the fund's prospectus, shareholder reports, and other information about the fund online at troweprice.com/prospectus. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 1-800-638-8790, by sending an e-mail request to [email protected], or by contacting your insurance company. This Summary Prospectus incorporates by reference the fund's prospectus, dated May 1, 2024, as amended or supplemented, and Statement of Additional Information, dated May 1, 2024, as amended or supplemented.

Summary

1

Investment Objective(s)

The fund seeks long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the fund. There may be additional expenses that apply, as described in your insurance contract prospectus, which are not reflected in the table or example below.

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

Portfolio

Portfolio-II Class

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

Management fees

0.66

%a

0.66

%a

Distribution and service (12b-1) fees

-

0.25

Other expenses

0.20

a

0.20

a

Total annual fund operating expenses

0.86

a

1.11

a

aRestated to reflect current fees.

Example This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods, that your investment has a 5% return each year, and that the fund's operating 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

Portfolio

$88

$274

$477

$1,061

Portfolio-II Class

113

353

612

1,352

Portfolio TurnoverThe 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 49.5% of the average value of its portfolio.

Investments, Risks, and Performance

Principal Investment Strategies

The fund normally invests at least 80% of its net assets (including any borrowings for investment purposes) in the common stocks of companies engaged in the research, development, production, or distribution of products or services related to health care, medicine, or the life sciences (collectively termed "health sciences"). While the fund can invest in companies of any size, the majority of fund assets are expected to be invested in large- and mid-cap companies.

The fund defines the health sciences industry broadly and divides it into four main areas: pharmaceutical companies; health care services companies; medical products and devices providers; and biotechnology firms. The fund's allocation among these four areas will vary depending on the relative potential the adviser sees within each area and the outlook for the overall health sciences sector.

The fund uses fundamental, bottom-up analysis that seeks to identify high-quality companies and the most compelling investment opportunities. In general, the fund follows a growth investment strategy, seeking companies whose earnings are expected to grow faster than inflation and the economy in general. When stock valuations seem unusually high, however, a "value" approach, which gives preference to seemingly undervalued companies, may be emphasized. The fund generally seeks investments in companies that are developing new and effective medicines, as well as companies whose business models reduce costs or improve quality in health care systems.

While most assets are typically invested in U.S. common stocks, the fund may invest in foreign stocks in keeping with its objective(s). The fund's investments may include holdings in privately held companies and companies that only recently began to trade publicly.

T. Rowe Price

2

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:

Health sciences companies: A fund that focuses its investments in specific industries or sectors is more susceptible to adverse developments affecting those industries and sectors than a more broadly diversified fund. Because the fund invests significantly in health sciences companies, the fund may perform poorly during a downturn in the health sciences industry. Health care and other health sciences companies can be adversely affected by, among other things, legislative or regulatory changes, intense competitive challenges, the need for government approval to offer products and services, increases or decreases in the cost of or demand for medical products and services, product liability claims, an increased emphasis on outpatient services, pricing pressure (including price discounting), and product obsolescence. Health care and other health sciences companies are also heavily dependent on patent protections, and the expiration of a company's patent may adversely affect that company's profitability.

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 economic, political, or regulatory developments, recessions, inflation, rapid interest rate changes, war, military conflict, 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.

Large- and mid-cap stocks: Securities issued by large- and mid-cap companies tend to be less volatile than securities issued by small-cap companies. However, large-cap companies may not be able to attain the high growth rates of successful small-cap companies, especially during strong economic periods, and may be unable to respond as quickly to competitive challenges. The fund's share price could fluctuate more than the share price of a fund that invests only in large-cap companies as stocks of mid-cap companies entail greater risk and are usually more volatile than stocks of large-cap companies.

Investing style: Because the fund may hold stocks with either growth or value characteristics, it could underperform other funds that take a strictly growth or value approach to investing when one style is currently in favor. Growth stocks tend to be more volatile than the overall stock market and can have sharp price declines as a result of earnings disappointments. Value stocks carry the risk that the market will not recognize their intrinsic value for a long time (or at all) or that they are actually appropriately priced at a low level.

Foreign investing: Investments in the securities of non-U.S. issuers may be adversely affected by local, political, social, and economic conditions overseas; greater volatility; reduced liquidity; or decreases in foreign currency values relative to the U.S. dollar. The risks of investing outside the U.S. are heightened for any investments in emerging markets, which are susceptible to greater volatility than investments in developed markets.

Private placements and IPOs: Investments in the stocks of privately held companies and in companies that only recently began to publicly trade, such as initial public offerings or IPOs, involve greater risks than investments in stocks of companies that have traded publicly on an exchange for extended time periods. There is significantly less information available about these companies' business models, quality of management, earnings growth potential, and other criteria that are normally considered when evaluating the investment prospects of a company. Private placements and other restricted securities held by the fund are typically considered to be illiquid and tend to be difficult to value since there are no market prices and less overall financial information available. The adviser evaluates a variety of factors when assigning a value to these holdings, but the determination involves some degree of subjectivity and the value assigned for the fund may differ from the value assigned by other mutual funds holding the same security.

Liquidity: A particular investment or an entire market segment may become less liquid or even illiquid, sometimes abruptly, which could limit the fund's ability to purchase or sell holdings in a timely manner at a desired price. An inability to sell a portfolio holding can adversely affect the fund's overall value or prevent the fund from being able to take advantage of other investment opportunities. Liquidity risk may be magnified during periods of substantial market volatility and unexpected episodes of illiquidity may limit the fund's ability to pay redemption proceeds without selling holdings at an unfavorable time or at a suitable price. Large redemptions may also have a negative impact on the fund's overall liquidity.

Summary

3

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.

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.

Cybersecurity breaches: The fund could be harmed by intentional cyberattacks and other cybersecurity breaches, including unauthorized access to the fund's assets, confidential 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

The following performance information provides some indication of the risks of investing in the fund. The fund's performance information represents only past performance and is not necessarily an indication of future results.

The following bar chart illustrates how much returns can differ from year to year by showing calendar year returns and the best and worst calendar quarter returns during those years for the fund's Portfolio Class. Returns for other share classes vary since they have different expenses.

HEALTH SCIENCES PORTFOLIO

Calendar Year Returns

Quarter Ended

Total Return

Quarter Ended

Total Return

Best Quarter

6/30/20

23.43%

Worst Quarter

12/31/18

-15.78%

The following table shows the average annual total returns for each class of the fund that has been in operation for at least one full calendar year, and also compares the returns with the returns of a relevant broad-based market index, as well as with the returns of one or more comparative indexes that have investment characteristics similar to those of the fund, if applicable.

Average Annual Total Returns

Periods ended

December 31, 2023

Inception

1 Year

5 Years

10 Years

date

Portfolio

2.96

%

11.24

%

11.30

%

12/29/2000

Portfolio-II Class

2.68

10.96

11.03

04/30/2002

S&P 500 Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)

26.29

15.69

12.03

Lipper Variable Annuity Underlying Health/Biotechnology Funds Average

3.64

10.12

9.62

Updated performance information is available through troweprice.com.

T. Rowe Price

4

Management

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

Portfolio Manager

Title

Managed
Fund
Since

Joined
Investment
Adviser

Ziad Bakri

Chair of Investment

Advisory Committee

2016

2011

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The fund is not sold directly to the general public but is instead offered as an underlying investment option for variable annuity or variable life insurance contracts. Although the fund does not require a minimum amount for initial or subsequent purchases from insurance companies, your insurance company may impose investment minimums for your purchases of the fund.

You may purchase, redeem, or exchange shares of the fund on any day the New York Stock Exchange is open for business. You must purchase, redeem, and exchange shares through your insurance company.

Tax Information

The fund distributes any dividends and capital gains to its shareholders, which are the insurance company separate accounts that sponsor your variable annuity or variable life insurance contract. Variable product owners seeking to understand the tax consequences of their investment, including redemptions of fund shares and the impact of dividend and capital gains distributions by the fund, should consult with the insurance company that issued their variable product or refer to their variable annuity or variable life insurance contract prospectus.

Payments to Insurance Companies, Broker-Dealers, and Other Financial Intermediaries

The fund is generally available only through variable annuity or variable life insurance contracts. The fund and/or its related companies may make payments to a sponsoring insurance company or other financial intermediary for the sale of fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the insurance company or other financial intermediary to recommend the fund over another investment option or by influencing an insurance company to include the fund as an underlying investment option in a variable contract. The prospectus (or other offering document) for your variable contract may contain additional information about these payments. Ask your insurance company or financial intermediary, or visit your insurance company's or financial intermediary's website, for more information.

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

E309-045 5/1/24