Morgan Stanley Boosts Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) Price Target to $117.00

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) had its target price increased by Morgan Stanley from $109.00 to $117.00 in a research note published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Raymond James cut Prudential Financial from a strong-buy rating to a market perform rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a neutral rating and set a $118.00 price objective (down from $119.00) on shares of Prudential Financial in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Prudential Financial from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $114.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Prudential Financial from $104.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Prudential Financial currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $111.33.

Prudential Financial Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE PRU opened at $107.35 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.13 and a quick ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.54 billion, a PE ratio of 16.05, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.37. Prudential Financial has a 1 year low of $77.22 and a 1 year high of $118.69. The business’s 50-day moving average is $111.20 and its 200 day moving average is $102.90.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The financial services provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.67 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $13.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.99 billion. Prudential Financial had a return on equity of 14.52% and a net margin of 4.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.42 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Prudential Financial will post 13.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Prudential Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.84%. This is a boost from Prudential Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. Prudential Financial’s payout ratio is presently 77.73%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Prudential Financial news, EVP Andrew F. Sullivan sold 7,685 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.57, for a total value of $857,415.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 13,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,527,504.87. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Timothy L. Schmidt sold 7,912 shares of the company’s 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 sale, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Andrew F. Sullivan sold 7,685 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.57, for a total transaction of $857,415.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 13,691 shares in the company, valued at $1,527,504.87. 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 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Prudential Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Prudential Financial by 13.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,292,853 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,386,192,000 after purchasing an additional 5,154,865 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Prudential Financial by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,613,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $628,529,000 after purchasing an additional 111,170 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its position in Prudential Financial by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,589,363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $655,378,000 after purchasing an additional 413,421 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Prudential Financial by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,353,887 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $750,839,000 after purchasing an additional 356,957 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Prudential Financial by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,353,086 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $413,064,000 after purchasing an additional 197,422 shares during the period. 56.83% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.