First Business Financial Services Inc. Buys 7,986 Shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. $PRU

First Business Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) by 46.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 25,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,986 shares during the quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Prudential Financial were worth $2,838,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sunflower Bank N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 2,911 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $329,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 10,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,131,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 28,795 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,987,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $471,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mindset Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mindset Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $496,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.83% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on PRU shares. Zacks Research cut shares of Prudential Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Prudential Financial from $105.00 to $98.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $133.00 to $127.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Prudential Financial presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $101.50.

Prudential Financial Stock Performance

NYSE:PRU opened at $101.20 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.16. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $91.89 and a fifty-two week high of $119.76. The company has a market cap of $35.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.41, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $97.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $104.58.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.09 by $0.52. Prudential Financial had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 5.83%.The business had revenue of $15.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 13.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Prudential Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th will be paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 26th. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.