Plato Investment Management Ltd Acquires New Stake in Prudential Financial, Inc. $PRU

Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 20,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,147,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jessup Wealth Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Prudential Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Garton & Associates Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Prudential Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC grew its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 98.3% in the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 93.1% in the 1st quarter. SJS Investment Consulting Inc. now owns 278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coston McIsaac & Partners raised its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 93.4% in the 4th quarter. Coston McIsaac & Partners now owns 265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. 56.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PRU. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Prudential Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Argus cut Prudential Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Prudential Financial from $102.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $92.00 target price (down from $106.00) on shares of Prudential Financial in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Prudential Financial from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $107.77.

Prudential Financial Stock Performance

Prudential Financial stock opened at $124.54 on Tuesday. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $91.89 and a fifty-two week high of $127.72. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $115.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $42.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.84.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The financial services provider reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.52 by $0.56. Prudential Financial had a net margin of 6.51% and a return on equity of 16.68%. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.58 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 14.17 EPS for the current year.

Prudential Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 25th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.72%.

Insider Activity at Prudential Financial

In other news, major shareholder Insurance Co Of Ame Prudential sold 214,746 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.75, for a total value of $5,314,963.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 7,973,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $197,348,010.75. This trade represents a 2.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.05% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.