Prudential Financial, Inc. $PRU Shares Purchased by Erste Asset Management GmbH

Erste Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) by 487.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 69,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 57,346 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Prudential Financial were worth $7,831,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PRU. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Prudential Financial by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $436,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Prudential Financial by 30.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 17,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,976,000 after purchasing an additional 4,134 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 3.5% in the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 4,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $447,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. grew its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 25.8% in the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 56,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,092,000 after buying an additional 11,630 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 15.1% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 37,277 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,005,000 after buying an additional 4,895 shares in the last quarter. 56.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PRU shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Prudential Financial from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Prudential Financial from $105.00 to $98.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $92.00 price objective (down from $106.00) on shares of Prudential Financial in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Zacks Research cut Prudential Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Prudential Financial from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Prudential Financial has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $101.50.

Prudential Financial Trading Down 0.8%

PRU opened at $103.81 on Tuesday. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.89 and a 12 month high of $119.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.68, a PEG 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $99.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $104.31.

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

Prudential Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th will be issued a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 26th. Prudential Financial’s payout ratio is 57.61%.

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.