Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) Position Raised by Benjamin Edwards Inc.

Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) by 1,843.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 26,794 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 25,415 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Prudential Financial were worth $3,246,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Glenmede Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in Prudential Financial by 7.4% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 17,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,176,000 after buying an additional 1,234 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Prudential Financial by 4.3% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 162,685 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,701,000 after buying an additional 6,641 shares during the last quarter. ORG Partners LLC bought a new stake in Prudential Financial in the second quarter valued at $156,000. PGGM Investments increased its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 98.0% during the second quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 64,277 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,533,000 after purchasing an additional 31,807 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 1.6% during the third 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 purchasing an additional 47,561 shares during the period. 56.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PRU. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $121.00 price target on shares of Prudential Financial in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. TD Cowen raised their price target on Prudential Financial from $130.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Prudential Financial from $116.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Argus raised Prudential Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Prudential Financial from an “underperform” rating to an “inline” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $117.00 to $140.00 in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $125.92.

Prudential Financial Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE:PRU opened at $125.90 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a 1-year low of $97.70 and a 1-year high of $130.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $124.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $120.26.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $3.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.01. Prudential Financial had a return on equity of 15.30% and a net margin of 6.03%. The business had revenue of $19.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.44 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 13.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Prudential Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 19th will be given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.13%. Prudential Financial’s payout ratio is presently 46.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Prudential Financial news, major shareholder Insurance Co Of Ame Prudential acquired 261,059 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 8th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $27.58 per share, for a total transaction of $7,200,007.22. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 4,208,549 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $116,071,781.42. The trade was a 6.61 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.