Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Makes New $593,000 Investment in Prudential Financial, Inc. $PRU

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI bought a new stake in Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 5,492 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $593,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Prudential Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,507,481,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 210,959 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 worth $1,078,904,000 after buying an additional 26,414 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 420,081 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 4.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,758,545 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $367,089,000 after acquiring an additional 166,641 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.83% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Prudential Financial news, EVP Ann M. Kappler sold 7,652 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.01, for a total value of $956,576.52. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 14,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,801,019.07. This trade represents a 34.69% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Insurance Co Of Ame Prudential sold 214,746 shares of Prudential Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.75, for a total value of $5,314,963.50. Following the transaction, the insider owned 7,973,657 shares in the company, valued at approximately $197,348,010.75. This represents a 2.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.05% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Prudential Financial Trading Down 1.9%

PRU opened at $122.21 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $116.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.53. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a 1-year low of $91.89 and a 1-year high of $127.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The financial services provider reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.52 by $0.56. Prudential Financial had a return on equity of 16.68% and a net margin of 6.51%.The business had revenue of $14.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.58 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 14.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Prudential Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th will be issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 25th. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PRU has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on Prudential Financial from $90.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Prudential Financial from $110.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Prudential Financial from $113.00 to $123.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Prudential Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Prudential Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $108.31.

Prudential Financial 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.