Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

Shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) have been assigned an average rating of “Reduce” from the sixteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $102.0833.

A number of brokerages recently commented on PRU. Zacks Research raised Prudential Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Prudential Financial from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $92.00 target price (down from $106.00) on shares of Prudential Financial in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Prudential Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $124.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th.

Institutional Trading of Prudential Financial

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $436,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Prudential Financial by 30.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 17,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,976,000 after purchasing an additional 4,134 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake in Prudential Financial by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 4,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $447,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. raised its holdings in Prudential Financial by 25.8% during the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 56,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,092,000 after buying an additional 11,630 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Prudential Financial by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 37,277 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,005,000 after buying an additional 4,895 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.83% of the company’s stock.

Prudential Financial Price Performance

Shares of PRU stock opened at $112.74 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $104.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $104.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. Prudential Financial has a 52-week low of $91.89 and a 52-week high of $119.76. The stock has a market cap of $39.12 billion, a PE ratio of 11.60, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.85.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last issued its 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 net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 16.33%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.29 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Prudential Financial will post 13.81 EPS for the current year.

Prudential Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 26th. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.61%.

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.