Prudential Financial, Inc. $PRU Position Lessened by Brookstone Capital Management

Brookstone Capital Management decreased its position in shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) by 6.5% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 102,416 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,125 shares during the quarter. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in Prudential Financial were worth $10,005,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of PRU. Sunflower Bank N.A. boosted its stake in 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 valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 10,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,131,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Prudential Financial by 0.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Prudential Financial by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $471,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the period. Finally, Mindset Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.83% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $91.00 to $87.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating and set a $92.00 price target (down from $106.00) on shares of Prudential Financial in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Prudential Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $124.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $105.00 to $98.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $101.50.

Prudential Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PRU opened at $108.25 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $101.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.14, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.86. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $91.89 and a 52-week high of $119.76.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.09 by $0.52. The business had revenue of $15.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.10 billion. Prudential Financial had a return on equity of 16.33% and a net margin of 5.83%.During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.29 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 13.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Prudential Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th were issued a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 26th. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.61%.

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.