Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Sells 44,453 Shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. $PRU

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund reduced its stake in Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) by 60.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 29,036 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 44,453 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Prudential Financial were worth $2,837,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Prudential Financial by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,234,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,945,381,000 after acquiring an additional 210,959 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 0.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 26,414 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Prudential Financial by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,649,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $750,562,000 after purchasing an additional 420,081 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Prudential Financial by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,428,696 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $274,151,000 after purchasing an additional 15,865 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Prudential Financial by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,044,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $231,321,000 after purchasing an additional 291,422 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.83% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Zacks Research upgraded Prudential Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Prudential Financial from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley restated 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. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $91.00 to $87.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $101.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $104.58.

Prudential Financial Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of PRU stock opened at $119.05 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.31 billion, a PE ratio of 12.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.85. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $91.89 and a 52-week high of $120.53. The business’s fifty day moving average is $107.27 and its 200 day moving average is $104.11. 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 (NYSE:PRU) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.29 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 13.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Prudential Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 26th were given a $1.40 dividend. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 26th. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 57.61%.

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.