Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $109.31

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the sixteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have given a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $109.31.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on PRU shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Prudential Financial from $129.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Prudential Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 20th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $113.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Prudential Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th.

Insider Activity at Prudential Financial

In other Prudential Financial news, EVP Ann M. Kappler sold 7,652 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.01, for a total value of $956,576.52. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 14,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,801,019.07. The trade was a 34.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Insurance Co Of Ame Prudential sold 214,746 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.75, for a total transaction of $5,314,963.50. Following the sale, the insider owned 7,973,657 shares in the company, valued at approximately $197,348,010.75. The trade was a 2.62% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.05% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Prudential Financial

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of PRU. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Prudential Financial by 17.2% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 40,530 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,374,000 after purchasing an additional 5,949 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 4.3% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 9,246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $998,000 after buying an additional 384 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 2.7% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 739,294 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,792,000 after purchasing an additional 19,451 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,164,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,852,593,000 after acquiring an additional 209,179 shares during the period. Finally, Security National Bank of SO Dak raised its holdings in Prudential Financial by 0.6% in the second quarter. Security National Bank of SO Dak now owns 14,676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,584,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 56.83% of the company’s stock.

Prudential Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:PRU opened at $118.63 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The company has a market cap of $40.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.83. Prudential Financial has a 12 month low of $91.89 and a 12 month high of $127.72. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $120.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $108.61.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The financial services provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.52 by $0.56. The company had revenue of $14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.36 billion. Prudential Financial had a return on equity of 16.68% and a net margin of 6.51%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.58 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Prudential Financial will post 14.57 EPS for the current year.

Prudential Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th were issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 25th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.7%. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 50.72%.

About Prudential Financial

Prudential Financial, Inc is a global financial services company headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. Founded in 1875 as The Widows and Orphans Friendly Society, the company has grown from a life insurance provider into a diversified business offering insurance, retirement, investment management and related financial services.

Through its U.S. businesses, Prudential provides individual life insurance and annuities, workplace retirement plans, pension risk transfer solutions, group life and disability insurance, and other benefits and financial wellness products.