Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Argus

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) was downgraded by research analysts at Argus from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on PRU. Barclays boosted their price objective on Prudential Financial from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Prudential Financial from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $96.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Prudential Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Evercore restated a “negative” rating on shares of Prudential Financial in a report on Friday, March 6th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $101.50.

Prudential Financial Stock Performance

NYSE PRU opened at $103.81 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $36.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $99.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $104.31. Prudential Financial has a 1-year low of $91.89 and a 1-year high of $119.76.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.09 by $0.52. The company had revenue of $15.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.10 billion. Prudential Financial had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 5.83%.During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.29 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Prudential Financial will post 13.84 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. DV Trading LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 316.7% in the 1st quarter. DV Trading LLC now owns 2,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 1,900 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 9.8% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $449,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new stake in shares of Prudential Financial in the 1st quarter valued at about $281,000. Ipsen Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Ipsen Advisor Group LLC now owns 7,030 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $687,000 after purchasing an additional 592 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cozad Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Prudential Financial in the first quarter valued at approximately $248,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.83% of the company’s stock.

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.