Prudential Financial, Inc. $PRU Shares Bought by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 76,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,344 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Prudential Financial were worth $8,624,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,701,116 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $280,214,000 after buying an additional 62,366 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 16.6% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,044,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $231,321,000 after buying an additional 291,422 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,172,443 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $121,629,000 after buying an additional 17,030 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,095,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $113,599,000 after buying an additional 7,526 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 897,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $101,321,000 after buying an additional 89,915 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.83% of the company’s stock.

Prudential Financial Stock Up 1.0%

PRU opened at $104.26 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50-day moving average of $97.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $104.58. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.89 and a 12 month high of $119.76.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.09 by $0.52. The company had revenue of $15.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.10 billion. Prudential Financial had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 5.83%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.29 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 13.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Prudential Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 26th. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.4%. Prudential Financial’s payout ratio is 57.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group cut their price target on Prudential Financial from $105.00 to $98.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Prudential Financial from $91.00 to $87.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Zacks Research downgraded Prudential Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Prudential Financial from $96.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Prudential Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Prudential Financial has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $101.50.

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.