Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Has $610,000 Position in Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) by 42.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,915 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,156 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Prudential Financial were worth $610,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Prudential Financial by 1.5% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,613,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $628,529,000 after acquiring an additional 111,170 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Prudential Financial by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 6,589,363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $655,378,000 after purchasing an additional 413,421 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Prudential Financial by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,353,887 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $750,839,000 after buying an additional 356,957 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Prudential Financial by 12.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,355,882 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $296,059,000 after buying an additional 376,841 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Prudential Financial by 3.3% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,247,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $383,753,000 after buying an additional 103,853 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.92% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PRU. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Prudential Financial in a research note on Wednesday, October 4th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $99.00 target price for the company. TheStreet downgraded Prudential Financial from a “b” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Prudential Financial in a report on Friday, September 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Prudential Financial from $121.00 to $119.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Prudential Financial from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.00.

Prudential Financial Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:PRU opened at $94.28 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $34.04 billion, a PE ratio of 60.83, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a 12-month low of $75.37 and a 12-month high of $108.81. The business has a 50 day moving average of $93.75 and a 200-day moving average of $90.72.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 1st. The financial services provider reported $3.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.16 by $0.28. Prudential Financial had a return on equity of 16.03% and a net margin of 1.21%. The firm had revenue of $10.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.91 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 11.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Prudential Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 21st will be paid a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.30%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 20th. Prudential Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 322.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Prudential Financial

In other news, SVP Timothy L. Schmidt sold 8,281 shares of Prudential Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.49, for a total value of $782,471.69. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 14,621 shares in the company, valued at $1,381,538.29. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

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 Annuities, Individual Life, Assurance IQ, and International Businesses segments.