Corient Private Wealth LP Purchases New Position in Prudential Financial, Inc. $PRU

Corient Private Wealth LP acquired a new stake in Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 144,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $15,617,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Oxbow Advisors LLC bought a new position in Prudential Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $6,545,000. Orca Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Prudential Financial during the second quarter worth about $2,605,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 735,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $83,801,000 after purchasing an additional 29,720 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio increased its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 128.6% in the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 19,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,189,000 after buying an additional 10,909 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in Prudential Financial by 45.8% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 108,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,198,000 after buying an additional 33,932 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 56.83% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on PRU. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $129.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Prudential Financial from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Prudential Financial from $113.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Prudential Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Prudential Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $109.31.

Prudential Financial Stock Performance

Shares of PRU stock opened at $119.80 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.33 billion, a PE ratio of 10.85, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $117.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a one year low of $91.89 and a one year high of $127.72.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The financial services provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.52 by $0.56. The firm had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.36 billion. Prudential Financial had a net margin of 6.51% and a return on equity of 16.68%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.58 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 14.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Prudential Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 25th. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Prudential Financial

In related news, EVP Ann M. Kappler sold 7,652 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.01, for a total value of $956,576.52. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 14,407 shares in the company, valued at $1,801,019.07. The trade was a 34.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Insurance Co Of Ame Prudential sold 214,746 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 7,973,657 shares in the company, valued at $197,348,010.75. This trade represents a 2.62% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.05% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Prudential Financial

Prudential Financial, Inc, headquartered in Newark, New Jersey, is a diversified financial services company with roots dating to 1875. The firm provides a range of insurance, retirement and investment products aimed at helping individual and institutional clients manage risk, accumulate and protect wealth, and plan for retirement. Prudential’s long history in life insurance and related financial services has positioned it as a major participant in the U.S. insurance market and a provider of services to a broad client base.

Prudential’s core business activities include individual life insurance, annuities, retirement solutions and group insurance products for employers.