Principle Wealth Partners LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU)

Principle Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 44,311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,009 shares during the quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Prudential Financial were worth $4,595,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cambridge Trust Co. lifted its position in Prudential Financial by 77.2% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Trust Co. now owns 241 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Prudential Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Headinvest LLC purchased a new stake in Prudential Financial in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC lifted its position in Prudential Financial by 151.6% in the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 307 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janiczek Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Prudential Financial by 49.6% in the fourth quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. 56.83% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on PRU. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $114.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $112.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Raymond James lowered shares of Prudential Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $109.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Prudential Financial news, SVP Timothy L. Schmidt sold 7,912 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.13, for a total transaction of $855,524.56. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 14,754 shares in the company, valued at $1,595,350.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Timothy L. Schmidt sold 7,912 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.13, for a total value of $855,524.56. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 14,754 shares in the company, valued at $1,595,350.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Ann M. Kappler sold 7,222 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.39, for a total transaction of $782,792.58. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 24,381 shares in the company, valued at $2,642,656.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 29,255 shares of company stock worth $3,215,664. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Prudential Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Prudential Financial stock traded down $0.68 on Friday, reaching $110.50. 1,110,106 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,226,730. The company has a current ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $111.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $103.80. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.22 and a 1-year high of $118.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.67 billion, a PE ratio of 16.52, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.37.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.67 by ($0.09). Prudential Financial had a return on equity of 14.52% and a net margin of 4.89%. The company had revenue of $13.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.42 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 13.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Prudential Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. This is a positive change from Prudential Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.73%.

Prudential Financial Company Profile

Prudential Financial, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance, investment management, and other financial products and services in the United States and internationally. It operates through PGIM, Retirement Strategies, Group Insurance, Individual Life, and International Businesses segments.