Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Grows Holdings in Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU - Free Report) by 2.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 305,854 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 8,271 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned about 0.09% of Prudential Financial worth $34,158,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 14.1% during the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,857 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,548,000 after acquiring an additional 1,714 shares during the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN boosted its holdings in Prudential Financial by 2.1% in the first quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 6,984 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $780,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC grew its position in Prudential Financial by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 37,883 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,231,000 after purchasing an additional 2,252 shares during the period. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC raised its stake in Prudential Financial by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 5,334 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $596,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Piscataqua Savings Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank now owns 9,015 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,007,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.83% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Prudential Financial

In other news, major shareholder Insurance Co Of Ame Prudential purchased 52,595 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $28.52 per share, with a total value of $1,500,009.40. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 139,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,992,429.24. This trade represents a 60.18% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on PRU. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Prudential Financial from $108.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $122.00 to $110.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Prudential Financial from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Sunday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Prudential Financial from $120.00 to $117.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Prudential Financial from $128.00 to $126.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $120.15.

Prudential Financial Price Performance

PRU traded down $1.46 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $104.63. 2,213,787 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,643,739. The company has a market cap of $37.04 billion, a PE ratio of 14.01, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.07. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $90.38 and a 1 year high of $130.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $102.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $111.56.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The financial services provider reported $3.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.11. Prudential Financial had a net margin of 4.01% and a return on equity of 15.86%. The business had revenue of $13.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.12 earnings per share. Prudential Financial's quarterly revenue was down 38.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 14.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Prudential Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 20th will be paid a $1.35 dividend. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.16%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 20th. Prudential Financial's payout ratio is 85.58%.

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.