Palacios Wealth Management LLC Invests $335,000 in Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU)

Palacios Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 2,799 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $335,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PRU. Values Added Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Prudential Financial in the 4th quarter worth $226,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Prudential Financial by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 162,755 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,376,000 after buying an additional 1,105 shares in the last quarter. SFE Investment Counsel increased its stake in Prudential Financial by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. SFE Investment Counsel now owns 51,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,057,000 after buying an additional 925 shares in the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC increased its stake in Prudential Financial by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 2,440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $289,000 after buying an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Prudential Financial by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 18,364 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,177,000 after buying an additional 764 shares in the last quarter. 56.83% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on PRU. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Prudential Financial from $129.00 to $125.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $130.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Prudential Financial from an “underperform” rating to an “inline” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $117.00 to $140.00 in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $117.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $127.00 to $124.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Prudential Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $125.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Insurance Co Of Ame Prudential acquired 537,249 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $27.92 per share, with a total value of $14,999,992.08. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 4,780,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $133,465,780.56. This trade represents a 12.66 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Prudential Financial Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:PRU opened at $112.01 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $104.44 and a 12 month high of $130.55. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $118.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $120.00. The company has a market cap of $39.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.99, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.31.

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

Prudential Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a $1.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.82%. This is an increase from Prudential Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.30. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.61%.

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.