Buffington Mohr McNeal Acquires Shares of 2,600 Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU)

Buffington Mohr McNeal acquired a new position in shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,600 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $308,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Prudential Financial by 4,130.8% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,298,257 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $157,219,000 after buying an additional 1,267,571 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Prudential Financial by 176.8% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,041,420 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $123,804,000 after acquiring an additional 665,180 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Prudential Financial by 31.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,444,288 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $174,903,000 after acquiring an additional 344,254 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,662,679 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,047,872,000 after purchasing an additional 341,787 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Inc. OK bought a new position in shares of Prudential Financial in the third quarter worth $30,226,000. Institutional investors own 56.83% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Prudential Financial from $149.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Prudential Financial from $135.00 to $129.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI upgraded Prudential Financial from an "underperform" rating to an "inline" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $117.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price 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. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Prudential Financial from $127.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Prudential Financial currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $125.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Insurance Co Of Ame Prudential purchased 537,249 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $27.92 per share, for a total transaction of $14,999,992.08. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 4,780,293 shares of the company's stock, 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Prudential Financial Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of PRU traded up $0.30 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $120.82. 820,128 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,556,522. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.14 and a quick ratio of 0.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a 50-day moving average of $121.14 and a 200-day moving average of $120.67. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $100.60 and a fifty-two week high of $130.55.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $3.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.01. Prudential Financial had a return on equity of 15.30% and a net margin of 6.03%. The company had revenue of $19.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.44 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 13.24 EPS for the current year.

Prudential Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 19th were given a dividend of $1.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 19th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.30%. Prudential Financial's payout ratio is presently 46.22%.

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.