Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Acquires 93,306 Shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. $PRU

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its stake in shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) by 81.4% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 207,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 93,306 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Prudential Financial were worth $20,306,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,234,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,945,381,000 after purchasing an additional 210,959 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Prudential Financial by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,533,806 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,078,904,000 after purchasing an additional 26,414 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Prudential Financial by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,649,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $750,562,000 after buying an additional 420,081 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,758,545 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $367,089,000 after buying an additional 166,641 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Prudential Financial by 95.3% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,556,748 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $249,769,000 after acquiring an additional 1,247,371 shares during the last quarter. 56.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on PRU. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Prudential Financial from $91.00 to $87.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Argus downgraded shares of Prudential Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Prudential Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Prudential Financial from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $105.46.

Prudential Financial Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of Prudential Financial stock opened at $121.83 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $109.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $104.30. The stock has a market cap of $42.28 billion, a PE ratio of 12.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.89 and a 12 month high of $122.57.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.09 by $0.52. Prudential Financial had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 5.83%.The firm had revenue of $15.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.29 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 13.75 EPS for the current year.

Prudential Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th were paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 26th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 57.61%.

Prudential Financial Profile

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.