Captrust Financial Advisors Increases Stake in Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU)

Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) by 7.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,116 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in Prudential Financial were worth $3,854,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Prudential Financial during the 4th quarter worth about $4,013,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Prudential Financial by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 108,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,906,000 after buying an additional 2,958 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in Prudential Financial by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 27,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,305,000 after acquiring an additional 1,078 shares during the period. BNP Paribas boosted its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 539.9% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas now owns 4,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $527,000 after acquiring an additional 3,752 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,706,530 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $202,279,000 after purchasing an additional 97,406 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.83% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on PRU shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Prudential Financial from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays lowered their price objective on Prudential Financial from $134.00 to $106.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $120.00 to $117.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $136.00 to $128.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Prudential Financial from $130.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Prudential Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $121.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Insurance Co Of Ame Prudential acquired 52,595 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $28.52 per share, for a total transaction of $1,500,009.40. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 139,987 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,992,429.24. This represents a 60.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Andrew F. Sullivan sold 6,000 shares of Prudential Financial stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.98, for a total value of $635,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,869,090.56. This represents a 18.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Prudential Financial Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:PRU opened at $103.55 on Friday. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $90.38 and a 52-week high of $130.55. The stock has a market cap of $36.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.86, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a fifty day moving average of $104.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $114.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $3.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $13.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.76 billion. Prudential Financial had a net margin of 4.01% and a return on equity of 15.86%. Prudential Financial’s revenue was down 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.12 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 14.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Prudential Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.21%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 20th. Prudential Financial’s payout ratio is 85.58%.

About Prudential Financial

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.