Capital Analysts LLC Takes Position in Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU)

Capital Analysts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $46,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new stake in Prudential Financial during the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in Prudential Financial by 11.3% during the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 50,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,979,000 after buying an additional 5,126 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in Prudential Financial by 6.4% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 90,235 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,698,000 after buying an additional 5,452 shares during the last quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. increased its holdings in Prudential Financial by 0.7% during the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 47,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,621,000 after buying an additional 326 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Prudential Financial by 36.4% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 135,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,037,000 after buying an additional 36,184 shares during the last quarter. 56.83% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on PRU. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $114.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $109.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $112.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.33.

Prudential Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PRU opened at $110.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a current ratio of 0.13. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $111.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $103.06. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $77.22 and a fifty-two week high of $118.69. The firm has a market cap of $39.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.37.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.67 by ($0.09). Prudential Financial had a return on equity of 14.52% and a net margin of 4.89%. The company had revenue of $13.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.42 EPS. Prudential Financial’s revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 13.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Prudential Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.70%. This is a positive change from Prudential Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.73%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Prudential Financial

In other Prudential Financial news, SVP Timothy L. Schmidt sold 7,912 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 14,754 shares in the company, valued at $1,595,350.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Timothy L. Schmidt sold 7,912 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.13, for a total value of $855,524.56. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 14,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,595,350.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Ann M. Kappler sold 7,222 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.39, for a total transaction of $782,792.58. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now 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 sold 29,255 shares of company stock worth $3,215,664 over the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Prudential Financial 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.