New England Research & Management Inc. Lowers Holdings in Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU)

New England Research & Management Inc. reduced its stake in Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) by 40.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,564 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,512 shares during the period. New England Research & Management Inc.’s holdings in Prudential Financial were worth $1,108,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Aspire Private Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Prudential Financial during the first quarter worth approximately $18,699,240,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Prudential Financial during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Tanglewood Legacy Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Prudential Financial during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new position in shares of Prudential Financial during the first quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC acquired a new position in shares of Prudential Financial during the first quarter worth $25,000. 54.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on PRU. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Prudential Financial from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Prudential Financial from $89.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 15th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Prudential Financial from a “c” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 1st. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Prudential Financial from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Prudential Financial from $91.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Prudential Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.73.

Prudential Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PRU traded up $1.66 on Thursday, reaching $98.24. 194,405 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,041,184. The company has a current ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a 1-year low of $75.37 and a 1-year high of $110.96. The firm has a market cap of $35.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a 50-day moving average of $94.10 and a 200-day moving average of $87.98.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The financial services provider reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.04 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $12.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.68 billion. Prudential Financial had a return on equity of 15.73% and a net margin of 1.82%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.74 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 11.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Prudential Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 22nd will be paid a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 21st. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 166.67%.

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 Annuities, Individual Life, Assurance IQ, and International Businesses segments.