Pacer Advisors Inc. Lowers Position in Prudential Financial, Inc. $PRU

Pacer Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) by 52.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 19,441 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Prudential Financial were worth $1,707,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. DV Trading LLC raised its holdings in Prudential Financial by 316.7% in the first quarter. DV Trading LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $244,000 after purchasing an additional 1,900 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $449,000 after buying an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new stake in shares of Prudential Financial in the 1st quarter worth about $281,000. Ipsen Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Ipsen Advisor Group LLC now owns 7,030 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $687,000 after acquiring an additional 592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cozad Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Prudential Financial during the 1st quarter valued at about $248,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.83% of the company’s stock.

Prudential Financial Price Performance

Shares of PRU opened at $121.34 on Friday. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $91.89 and a twelve month high of $127.72. The company has a market capitalization of $42.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $112.86 and a 200 day moving average of $104.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The financial services provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.52 by $0.56. Prudential Financial had a return on equity of 16.68% and a net margin of 6.51%.The business had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.58 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 13.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Prudential Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 26th were issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 26th. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Prudential Financial news, major shareholder Insurance Co Of Ame Prudential sold 214,746 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.75, for a total transaction of $5,314,963.50. Following the transaction, the insider owned 7,973,657 shares in the company, valued at approximately $197,348,010.75. This represents a 2.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.05% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on PRU. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $112.00 to $104.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Wall Street Zen cut Prudential Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Prudential Financial from $117.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Prudential Financial from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Prudential Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $105.46.

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.