Machina Capital S.A.S. Lowers Stake in Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU)

Machina Capital S.A.S. trimmed its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) by 66.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,206 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,487 shares during the period. Machina Capital S.A.S.’s holdings in Prudential Financial were worth $436,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Choreo LLC grew its position in Prudential Financial by 163.5% in the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 6,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $720,000 after purchasing an additional 4,306 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Prudential Financial by 2.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,315,215 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $124,801,000 after acquiring an additional 36,599 shares during the last quarter. Arvest Investments Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Prudential Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,112,000. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Prudential Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $815,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Prudential Financial by 14.5% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 268,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,500,000 after purchasing an additional 34,054 shares during the last quarter. 56.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PRU has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Prudential Financial from $125.00 to $121.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Prudential Financial from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group raised their price target on Prudential Financial from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $112.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $109.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $111.08.

Prudential Financial Price Performance

NYSE PRU traded up $3.00 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $115.26. The stock had a trading volume of 1,624,405 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,524,688. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $112.31 and its 200 day moving average is $104.60. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.87 and a twelve month high of $118.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.13 and a quick ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.60, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.35.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $3.12 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.16 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $15.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.50 billion. Prudential Financial had a net margin of 3.76% and a return on equity of 15.50%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 69.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.66 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 13.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Prudential Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a $1.30 dividend. This is a boost from Prudential Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 88.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Prudential Financial

In other Prudential Financial news, EVP Ann M. Kappler sold 7,222 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.39, for a total value of $782,792.58. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 24,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,642,656.59. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Timothy L. Schmidt sold 7,912 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.13, for a total transaction of $855,524.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 14,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,595,350.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ann M. Kappler sold 7,222 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.39, for a total value of $782,792.58. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 24,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,642,656.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,255 shares of company stock worth $3,215,664 in the last three months. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Prudential Financial Company Profile

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.