Kentucky Retirement Systems Acquires 15,961 Shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. $PRU

Kentucky Retirement Systems boosted its holdings in Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) by 71.7% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 38,226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,961 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Prudential Financial were worth $3,525,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Prudential Financial by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,234,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,945,381,000 after purchasing an additional 210,959 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Prudential Financial by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 9,533,806 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,904,000 after buying an additional 26,414 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Prudential Financial by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,649,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $750,562,000 after buying an additional 420,081 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Prudential Financial by 4.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,758,545 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $367,089,000 after acquiring an additional 166,641 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 95.3% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,556,748 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $249,769,000 after acquiring an additional 1,247,371 shares during the last quarter. 56.83% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PRU has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America lowered their price target on Prudential Financial from $112.00 to $104.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $105.00 to $98.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Prudential Financial from $117.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $105.46.

Prudential Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PRU opened at $122.86 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $110.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $104.41. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $91.89 and a 52-week high of $124.57. The company has a market cap of $42.63 billion, a PE ratio of 12.64, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $15.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.10 billion. Prudential Financial had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 16.33%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.29 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 13.83 EPS for the current year.

Prudential Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th were paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 26th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.6%. Prudential Financial’s payout ratio is currently 57.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Prudential Financial

In other news, major shareholder Insurance Co Of Ame Prudential sold 214,746 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.75, for a total transaction of $5,314,963.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,973,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $197,348,010.75. This represents a 2.62% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.05% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.