Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Sells 26,316 Shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. $PRU

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lessened its stake in Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) by 38.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 41,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 26,316 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Prudential Financial were worth $4,062,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PRU. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Prudential Financial by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $436,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Prudential Financial by 30.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 17,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,976,000 after purchasing an additional 4,134 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake in Prudential Financial by 3.5% in the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 4,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. raised its holdings in Prudential Financial by 25.8% in the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 56,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,092,000 after purchasing an additional 11,630 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Prudential Financial by 15.1% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 37,277 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,005,000 after purchasing an additional 4,895 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.83% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on PRU. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Prudential Financial from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Prudential Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $124.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. UBS Group decreased their target price on Prudential Financial from $105.00 to $98.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Prudential Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Prudential Financial from $96.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $101.92.

Prudential Financial Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:PRU opened at $112.83 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $39.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.61, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.85. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $91.89 and a 12 month high of $119.76. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $103.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.09 by $0.52. The firm had revenue of $15.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.10 billion. Prudential Financial had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 16.33%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.29 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 13.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Prudential Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th were given a dividend of $1.40 per share. This represents a $5.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 26th. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.61%.

Prudential Financial Company Profile

Prudential Financial, Inc, headquartered in Newark, New Jersey, is a diversified financial services company with roots dating to 1875. The firm provides a range of insurance, retirement and investment products aimed at helping individual and institutional clients manage risk, accumulate and protect wealth, and plan for retirement. Prudential’s long history in life insurance and related financial services has positioned it as a major participant in the U.S. insurance market and a provider of services to a broad client base.

Prudential’s core business activities include individual life insurance, annuities, retirement solutions and group insurance products for employers.