Let $G$ be an arbitrary finite abelian group. We describe all possible $G$-gradings on upper block triangular matrix algebras over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero.

Let $c = (c_1, \dots, c_n)$ be such that $c_1 \ge \cdots \ge c_n$. The $c$-numerical range of an $n \times n$ matrix $A$ is defined by $$ W_c(A) = \Bigl\{ \sum_{j=1}^n c_j (Ax_j,x_j) : \{x_1, \dots, x_n\} \text{ an orthonormal basis for } \IC^n \Bigr\}, $$ and the $c$-numerical radius of $A$ is defined by $r_c (A) = \max \{|z| : z \in W_c (A)\}$. We determine the structure of those linear operators $\phi$ on algebras of block triangular matrices, satisfying $$ W_c \bigl( \phi(A) \bigr) = W_c (A) \text{ for all } A \quad \text{or} \quad r_c \bigl( \phi(A) \bigr) = r_c (A) \text{ for all } A. $$

The two theorems proved yield simple yet reasonably general conditions for triangular matrices to be bounded operators on $l_p$. The theorems are applied to N\"orlund and weighted mean matrices.