Prudential plc, through its subsidiaries, provides life and health insurance, and retirement and asset management solutions to individuals in Asia, and Africa. It offers health and protection, as well as savings products, such as participating, linked, and other traditional products. The company also provides insurance against common critical illnesses, including cancer, stroke, and heart attack; and tropical disease protection, such as dengue, malaria, and measles. It manages assets across equity, fixed income, multi asset, quantitative, and alternative strategies on behalf of institutional and individual investors. Prudential plc provides its products and services through agency sales force, banks, and brokers. The company was founded in 1848 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.
Prudential Price Performance
Prudential stock traded up $0.14 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $24.62. 1,668,921 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 536,598. Prudential has a 52 week low of $21.84 and a 52 week high of $44.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.08.
Prudential Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a Semi-Annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 19th will be given a dividend of $0.115 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 18th. This is a positive change from Prudential's previous Semi-Annual dividend of $0.11.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
PUK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Prudential from GBX 1,605 ($19.39) to GBX 1,687 ($20.38) in a research note on Friday, July 15th. Societe Generale upgraded shares of Prudential from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lowered their price target for the company from GBX 1,450 ($17.52) to GBX 1,375 ($16.61) in a research report on Tuesday, April 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Prudential from GBX 1,550 ($18.73) to GBX 1,475 ($17.82) in a research note on Wednesday, April 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Prudential from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $1,579.50.
Insider Transactions at Prudential
In other news, major shareholder Plc Prudential sold 4,500,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total transaction of $121,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,635,443 shares in the company, valued at $206,156,961. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.