Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.40

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be paid a dividend of 1.40 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, September 10th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 25th.

Prudential Financial has increased its dividend by an average of 0.0%per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 18 consecutive years. Prudential Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 38.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Prudential Financial to earn $14.68 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 38.1%.

Prudential Financial Price Performance

NYSE:PRU traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $122.10. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 122,400 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,150,428. The company has a market capitalization of $42.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Prudential Financial has a fifty-two week low of $91.89 and a fifty-two week high of $127.72. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $113.68 and a 200-day moving average of $104.87.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The financial services provider reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.52 by $0.56. The business had revenue of $14.15 billion for 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 in the prior year, the firm earned $3.58 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Prudential Financial will post 14.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on PRU. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $113.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings raised Prudential Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Prudential Financial from $91.00 to $87.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Prudential Financial from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $117.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $107.62.

Prudential Financial Company Profile

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.