Strs Ohio Sells 1,791 Shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU)

Strs Ohio trimmed its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) by 9.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,687 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,791 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Prudential Financial were worth $1,834,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Prudential Financial by 2.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,315,215 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $124,801,000 after purchasing an additional 36,599 shares during the period. Czech National Bank boosted its position in shares of Prudential Financial by 46.8% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 63,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,020,000 after purchasing an additional 20,235 shares during the period. Arvest Investments Inc. bought a new position in shares of Prudential Financial in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,112,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Prudential Financial by 14.5% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 268,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,500,000 after purchasing an additional 34,054 shares during the period. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of Prudential Financial by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 868,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $90,076,000 after purchasing an additional 127,772 shares during the period. 56.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Prudential Financial news, SVP Timothy L. Schmidt sold 7,912 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.13, for a total transaction of $855,524.56. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 14,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,595,350.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Prudential Financial news, SVP Timothy L. Schmidt sold 7,912 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.13, for a total transaction of $855,524.56. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 14,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,595,350.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Ann M. Kappler sold 7,222 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.39, for a total transaction of $782,792.58. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 24,381 shares in the company, valued at $2,642,656.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,255 shares of company stock worth $3,215,664 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on PRU shares. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Prudential Financial from $104.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $112.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $118.00 target price (down previously from $119.00) on shares of Prudential Financial in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $114.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $111.33.

Prudential Financial Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of PRU opened at $110.61 on Friday. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.22 and a twelve month high of $118.69. The company has a market cap of $39.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $111.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $103.14.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.67 by ($0.09). Prudential Financial had a net margin of 4.89% and a return on equity of 14.52%. The firm had revenue of $13.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.42 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 13.38 EPS for the current year.

Prudential Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $1.30 per share. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.70%. This is a boost from Prudential Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.73%.

Prudential Financial Profile

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.