Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) shares gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $129.00 to $127.00. The stock had previously closed at $120.06, but opened at $116.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Prudential Financial shares last traded at $115.89, with a volume of 194,752 shares traded.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $109.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $149.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $117.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $135.00 to $129.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $127.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Prudential Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $127.25.

Insider Transactions at Prudential Financial

In other news, major shareholder Insurance Co Of Ame Prudential purchased 537,249 shares of Prudential Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $27.92 per share, for a total transaction of $14,999,992.08. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 4,780,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,465,780.56. The trade was a 12.66 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Prudential Financial

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Grove Bank & Trust boosted its position in Prudential Financial by 65.9% in the fourth quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Prudential Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Quarry LP boosted its position in Prudential Financial by 376.3% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Prudential Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Tompkins Financial Corp boosted its position in Prudential Financial by 61.7% in the third quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 367 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.83% of the company’s stock.

Prudential Financial Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.14 and a quick ratio of 0.14. The stock has a market cap of $42.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.31. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $122.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $120.65.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $3.48 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.01. Prudential Financial had a net margin of 6.03% and a return on equity of 15.30%. The company had revenue of $19.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.44 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 13.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Prudential Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th were paid a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.37%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.22%.

Prudential Financial Company Profile

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.