ABC Arbitrage SA Makes New $1.19 Million Investment in Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU)

ABC Arbitrage SA acquired a new position in shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 10,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,192,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PRU. Glenmede Trust Co. NA grew its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 7.4% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 17,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,176,000 after acquiring an additional 1,234 shares in the last quarter. Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in shares of Prudential Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,423,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 56.1% in the fourth quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 21,998 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,607,000 after acquiring an additional 7,907 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 3.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 419,733 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $50,830,000 after acquiring an additional 15,695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 2.3% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 79,256 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,597,000 after acquiring an additional 1,765 shares in the last quarter. 56.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Prudential Financial

In other news, major shareholder Insurance Co Of Ame Prudential purchased 537,249 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $27.92 per share, for a total transaction of $14,999,992.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,780,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,465,780.56. This trade represents a 12.66 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Prudential Financial Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:PRU opened at $111.54 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $39.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.31. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $104.44 and a 1 year high of $130.55. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $117.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $119.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.14.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The financial services provider reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.36 by ($0.40). Prudential Financial had a return on equity of 15.86% and a net margin of 4.01%. As a group, analysts expect that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 14.38 EPS for the current year.

Prudential Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $1.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.84%. This is a boost from Prudential Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on PRU shares. Evercore ISI raised Prudential Financial from an “underperform” rating to an “inline” rating and upped their target price for the company from $117.00 to $140.00 in a report on Thursday, November 14th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Prudential Financial from $130.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Prudential Financial from $117.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Prudential Financial from $149.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Prudential Financial from $127.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $125.46.

About Prudential Financial

Prudential Financial, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides insurance, investment management, and other financial products and services in the United States and internationally. It operates through PGIM, Retirement Strategies, Group Insurance, Individual Life, and International Businesses segments.