Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) Receives Average Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the twelve research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and ten have assigned a hold recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $111.42.

Several brokerages have commented on PRU. Raymond James downgraded shares of Prudential Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Prudential Financial from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $109.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Prudential Financial from $114.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Prudential Financial from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th.

Prudential Financial Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE PRU opened at $112.26 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $40.30 billion, a PE ratio of 19.09, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.35. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $112.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $104.33. Prudential Financial has a 12 month low of $77.22 and a 12 month high of $118.69.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $3.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.16 by ($0.04). Prudential Financial had a return on equity of 15.50% and a net margin of 3.76%. The firm had revenue of $15.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 69.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Prudential Financial will post 13.34 EPS for the current year.

Prudential Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a $1.30 dividend. This is an increase from Prudential Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.63%. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 88.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Prudential Financial news, SVP Timothy L. Schmidt sold 7,912 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.13, for a total transaction of $855,524.56. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 14,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,595,350.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Timothy L. Schmidt sold 7,912 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.13, for a total value of $855,524.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 14,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,595,350.02. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ann M. Kappler sold 7,222 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.39, for a total transaction of $782,792.58. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 24,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,642,656.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,255 shares of company stock worth $3,215,664 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Choreo LLC grew its position in Prudential Financial by 163.5% during the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 6,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $720,000 after acquiring an additional 4,306 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,315,215 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $124,801,000 after purchasing an additional 36,599 shares during the last quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Prudential Financial during the 4th quarter worth about $815,000. Arvest Investments Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Prudential Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,112,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 14.5% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 268,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,500,000 after purchasing an additional 34,054 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.83% of the company’s stock.

About Prudential Financial

Prudential Financial, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance, investment management, and other financial products and services in the United States and internationally. It operates through PGIM, Retirement Strategies, Group Insurance, Individual Life, and International Businesses segments.