Prudential Financial 'Ready To Rock,' Analyst Upgrades To Strong Buy

Raymond James analyst Wilma Burdis upgraded coverage on Prudential Financial Inc PRU to Strong Buy from Market Perform with a price target of $125.

The analyst expects the company's 2024 repurchases to exceed $2 billion (vs. a prior estimate of $1.05 billion) and sees a dividend yield of ~5% attractive, thanks to favorable capital position. 

The analyst estimates a pro forma highly liquid asset position of $6.2 billion (vs. targeted buffer of $3 billion-$5 billion), including the holding company's highly liquid assets of $4.5 billion as of Q2 FY23 and about $1.1 billion of proceeds from two recently announced deals and assuming $1.3 billion of IMR capital relief.  

Burdis also sees a potential to further divest non-core operations and less appetite for mergers & acquisitions. 

The analyst raised operating EPS estimates to $11.77 (from $11.62) vs. consensus of $11.92 for FY23, $13.58 (from $13.34) vs. $13.24 estimate for FY24, and $14.79 (from $14.08) vs. street view of $14.01 for FY25. 

Price Action: PRU shares are trading higher by 2.09% at $93.34 on the last check Thursday.

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
Comments
Loading...
date
ticker
name
Price Target
Upside/Downside
Recommendation
Firm
Posted In: Analyst ColorEquitiesLarge CapNewsUpgradesPrice TargetMarketsAnalyst RatingsTrading IdeasBriefsExpert Ideas
Benzinga simplifies the market for smarter investing

Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.

Join Now: Free!