Prudential (LON:PRU) Earns Overweight Rating from Barclays

Barclays restated their overweight rating on shares of Prudential (LON:PRU) in a research report released on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a GBX 1,390 ($17.46) target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a GBX 1,800 ($22.61) price target on shares of Prudential in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th.

Prudential Price Performance

LON PRU opened at GBX 756.20 ($9.50) on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of GBX 751.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of GBX 819.73. Prudential has a 52-week low of GBX 684.73 ($8.60) and a 52-week high of GBX 1,195 ($15.01). The firm has a market capitalization of £20.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,543.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 31.08, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

Prudential Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 28th. This is a boost from Prudential’s previous dividend of $0.06. This represents a yield of 1.43%. Prudential’s payout ratio is 3,265.31%.

Insider Transactions at Prudential

In other news, insider Anil Wadhwani purchased 57,435 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of GBX 753 ($9.46) per share, with a total value of £432,485.55 ($543,255.31). 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Prudential Company Profile

Prudential plc, through its subsidiaries, provides life and health insurance, and asset management solutions to individuals in Asia and Africa. The company was founded in 1848 and is headquartered in Central, Hong Kong.