Swedbank AB Reduces Stock Holdings in Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU)

Swedbank AB lowered its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 304,831 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,869 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB owned approximately 0.09% of Prudential Financial worth $36,132,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Grove Bank & Trust increased its position in Prudential Financial by 65.9% in the fourth quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Prudential Financial in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Quarry LP raised its stake in Prudential Financial by 376.3% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the period. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Prudential Financial in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Tompkins Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 61.7% in the third quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.83% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PRU. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $127.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI upgraded Prudential Financial from an “underperform” rating to an “inline” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $117.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Prudential Financial from $117.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $130.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $149.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Prudential Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $125.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Prudential Financial news, major shareholder Insurance Co Of Ame Prudential purchased 537,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $27.92 per share, with a total value of $14,999,992.08. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 4,780,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,465,780.56. The trade was a 12.66 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Prudential Financial Trading Down 0.4 %

PRU opened at $121.89 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $121.04 and a 200 day moving average of $120.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $100.60 and a 12 month high of $130.55. The firm has a market cap of $43.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.31.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $3.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $19.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.57 billion. Prudential Financial had a return on equity of 15.30% and a net margin of 6.03%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.44 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 13.24 EPS for the current year.

Prudential Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th were paid a $1.30 dividend. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.22%.

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.