Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) Upgraded to Inline at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) from an underperform rating to an inline rating in a research note released on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. Evercore ISI currently has $140.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $117.00.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on PRU. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $109.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $118.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Citigroup upped their target price on Prudential Financial from $104.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Prudential Financial from $121.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Prudential Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $125.69.

Prudential Financial Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:PRU traded up $1.98 during trading on Thursday, hitting $127.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,288,713 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,493,037. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $121.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $119.11. The company has a market capitalization of $45.47 billion, a PE ratio of 11.30, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.29. Prudential Financial has a fifty-two week low of $93.32 and a fifty-two week high of $129.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.14 and a current ratio of 0.14.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Prudential Financial had a return on equity of 15.30% and a net margin of 6.03%. The firm had revenue of $19.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.44 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Prudential Financial will post 13.33 EPS for the current year.

Prudential Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.07%. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.22%.

Insider Activity at Prudential Financial

In related news, EVP Caroline Feeney sold 1,110 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.97, for a total value of $133,166.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,175 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,220,694.75. This trade represents a 9.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Insurance Co Of Ame Prudential bought 261,059 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $27.58 per share, with a total value of $7,200,007.22. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 4,208,549 shares in the company, valued at approximately $116,071,781.42. The trade was a 6.61 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in Prudential Financial by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,007,013 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,059,549,000 after purchasing an additional 49,830 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 9.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,542,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $415,134,000 after purchasing an additional 305,143 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Prudential Financial by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,058,028 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $370,327,000 after buying an additional 47,561 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Prudential Financial by 31.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,444,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $174,903,000 after purchasing an additional 344,254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc raised its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 4.0% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,309,155 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $158,120,000 after buying an additional 50,026 shares during the last quarter. 56.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.