Prudential Financial, Inc. $PRU Shares Sold by Sound Income Strategies LLC

Sound Income Strategies LLC reduced its stake in shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) by 89.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,539 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 38,429 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in Prudential Financial were worth $445,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Prudential Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $140,530,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Prudential Financial by 230.3% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,374,966 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $155,206,000 after buying an additional 958,672 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Prudential Financial by 183.3% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 804,316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $83,440,000 after acquiring an additional 520,425 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,649,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $750,562,000 after acquiring an additional 420,081 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 209.2% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 520,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,871,000 after acquiring an additional 351,849 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.83% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group dropped their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Prudential Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $124.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Prudential Financial from $91.00 to $87.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Prudential Financial from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $92.00 price objective (down from $106.00) on shares of Prudential Financial in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Prudential Financial has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $101.92.

Prudential Financial Price Performance

PRU stock opened at $112.83 on Friday. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $91.89 and a 1 year high of $119.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $103.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $104.15. The firm has a market cap of $39.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.61, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.85.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $15.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.29 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 13.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Prudential Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 26th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 26th. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.