Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Buys 434 Shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. $PRU

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its stake in shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) by 2.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 434 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Prudential Financial were worth $1,852,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PRU. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Prudential Financial during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $90,010,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 19.2% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,206,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $469,777,000 after acquiring an additional 678,028 shares during the period. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 14.1% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 1,751,633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $183,571,000 after acquiring an additional 216,119 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Prudential Financial by 72.8% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 424,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,789,000 after purchasing an additional 178,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Prudential Financial by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,440,003 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $495,859,000 after purchasing an additional 116,079 shares in the last quarter. 56.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Ann M. Kappler sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.65, for a total transaction of $438,600.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 21,506 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,358,132.90. This represents a 15.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PRU has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Prudential Financial from $109.00 to $108.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Prudential Financial from $116.00 to $113.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Barclays lowered their price target on Prudential Financial from $120.00 to $117.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen raised Prudential Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Prudential Financial from $126.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $122.27.

Prudential Financial Stock Down 3.4%

Shares of PRU opened at $99.08 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.04. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $90.38 and a 1 year high of $130.55. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $105.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.58 earnings per share for the quarter. Prudential Financial had a return on equity of 15.80% and a net margin of 2.75%.The company had revenue of $8.35 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities analysts expect that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 14.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Prudential Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 19th were issued a dividend of $1.35 per share. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 19th. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 119.73%.

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.