Alps Advisors Inc. Sells 10,478 Shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. $PRU

Key Points

• Alps Advisors reduced its Prudential Financial stake by 4.2%, selling 10,478 shares in the third quarter; it retained 240,250 shares valued at about $27.3 million.
• Prudential reported quarterly earnings of $3.77 per share, beating the $3.33 analyst consensus, while revenue of $14.45 billion fell short of expectations.
• Analyst sentiment was broadly cautious: the consensus rating was “Reduce,” with an average price target of $112.40. The stock’s latest cited price was $119.36, and its annualized dividend yield was 4.7%.

Alps Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU - Free Report) by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 240,250 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 10,478 shares during the quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. owned about 0.07% of Prudential Financial worth $27,288,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Prudential Financial in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,507,481,000. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Prudential Financial by 1.2% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,164,760 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,852,593,000 after acquiring an additional 209,179 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Prudential Financial by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,758,545 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $367,089,000 after buying an additional 166,641 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Prudential Financial by 95.3% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,556,748 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $249,769,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247,371 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Prudential Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $209,055,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.83% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Prudential Financial

In other Prudential Financial news, EVP Ann Kappler sold 7,652 shares of Prudential Financial stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.01, for a total transaction of $956,576.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 14,407 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,801,019.07. The trade was a 34.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.05% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PRU has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Mizuho set a $108.00 price objective on shares of Prudential Financial in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $123.00 to $119.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Prudential Financial from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 19th. Barclays increased their price objective on Prudential Financial from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore reduced their price target on shares of Prudential Financial from $110.00 to $106.00 in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average price target of $112.40.

Prudential Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Prudential Financial stock opened at $119.36 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.86, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.85. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $116.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.97. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.89 and a 12 month high of $128.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.16 and a quick ratio of 0.16.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The financial services provider reported $3.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.33 by $0.44. The firm had revenue of $14.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.66 billion. Prudential Financial had a return on equity of 16.68% and a net margin of 6.51%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $4.26 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 13.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Prudential Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 25th were paid a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 25th. Prudential Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.96%.

Prudential Financial Profile

Prudential Financial, Inc is a financial services company headquartered in Newark, New Jersey. Founded in 1875 as the Prudential Friendly Society, it has grown into a provider of insurance, retirement and investment services.

The company offers life insurance, annuities, workplace benefits and retirement-related products and services. Through its asset management businesses, Prudential also serves individual and institutional investors.

Prudential serves customers in the United States and operates internationally, with a significant presence in Japan and other markets.

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