Integrity Alliance LLC. Purchases Shares of 11,719 Prudential Financial, Inc. $PRU

Integrity Alliance LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 11,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,323,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 18,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,045,000 after buying an additional 4,081 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 11,247 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,270,000 after buying an additional 706 shares during the period. Allstate Corp lifted its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 83.9% in the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 24,491 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,765,000 after buying an additional 11,173 shares during the period. Clearstead Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Prudential Financial by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 15,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,783,000 after buying an additional 505 shares during the period. Finally, HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Prudential Financial by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 7,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $783,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the period. 56.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Prudential Financial Stock Performance

NYSE:PRU opened at $100.69 on Friday. Prudential Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $91.89 and a 1 year high of $119.76. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $98.54 and a 200-day moving average of $104.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.86.

Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.09 by $0.52. Prudential Financial had a net margin of 5.83% and a return on equity of 16.33%. The company had revenue of $15.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.29 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Prudential Financial, Inc. will post 13.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Prudential Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 26th will be paid a $1.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 26th. This represents a $5.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.6%. Prudential Financial’s payout ratio is currently 57.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Prudential Financial from $93.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Zacks Research cut Prudential Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Prudential Financial from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Prudential Financial from $96.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on Prudential Financial from $112.00 to $104.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $101.50.

About Prudential Financial

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.