7,674 Shares in Prudential Financial, Inc. $PRU Bought by Total Clarity Wealth Management Inc.

Total Clarity Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 7,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $796,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Prudential Financial by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $436,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 30.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 17,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,976,000 after buying an additional 4,134 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in Prudential Financial by 127.1% in the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Prudential Financial by 2.4% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 815,841 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $87,654,000 after acquiring an additional 18,901 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brookwood Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Prudential Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $289,000. Institutional investors own 56.83% of the company’s stock.

Prudential Financial Price Performance

Shares of PRU opened at $100.90 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $109.85 and a 200-day moving average of $107.40. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $90.38 and a 1 year high of $119.76. The company has a market capitalization of $35.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The financial services provider reported $3.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.37 by ($0.07). Prudential Financial had a return on equity of 16.32% and a net margin of 6.20%.The firm had revenue of $15.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.48 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.96 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 14.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Prudential Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This is an increase from Prudential Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.35. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on PRU. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Prudential Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Prudential Financial from $111.00 to $116.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Mizuho dropped their target price on Prudential Financial from $126.00 to $113.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Wall Street Zen cut Prudential Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, January 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Prudential Financial from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $115.00 to $103.00 in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $115.78.

Insider Transactions at Prudential Financial

In other Prudential Financial news, EVP Caroline Feeney sold 6,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.28, for a total value of $762,215.40. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 22,523 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,618,974.44. The trade was a 22.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jacques Chappuis acquired 1,000 shares of Prudential Financial stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $100.97 per share, with a total value of $100,970.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 1,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $100,970. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders purchased 1,408,389 shares of company stock worth $35,154,439. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

About Prudential Financial

Prudential Financial, Inc, headquartered in Newark, New Jersey, is a diversified financial services company with roots dating to 1875. The firm provides a range of insurance, retirement and investment products aimed at helping individual and institutional clients manage risk, accumulate and protect wealth, and plan for retirement. Prudential’s long history in life insurance and related financial services has positioned it as a major participant in the U.S. insurance market and a provider of services to a broad client base.

Prudential’s core business activities include individual life insurance, annuities, retirement solutions and group insurance products for employers.