Great week for Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) institutional investors after losing 5.8% over the previous year

editorial-team@simplywallst.com (Simply Wall St)

Thu, Apr 24, 2025, 11:03 AM 4 min read

A look at the shareholders of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 62% ownership. In other words, the group stands to gain the most (or lose the most) from their investment into the company.

After a year of 5.8% losses, last week’s 3.0% gain would be welcomed by institutional investors as a possible sign that returns might start trending higher.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Prudential Financial, beginning with the chart below.

Check out our latest analysis for Prudential Financial

ownership-breakdown — NYSE:PRU Ownership Breakdown April 24th 2025

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Prudential Financial?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

As you can see, institutional investors have a fair amount of stake in Prudential Financial. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Prudential Financial's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

earnings-and-revenue-growth — NYSE:PRU Earnings and Revenue Growth April 24th 2025

Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. We note that hedge funds don't have a meaningful investment in Prudential Financial. The Vanguard Group, Inc. is currently the largest shareholder, with 12% of shares outstanding. In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 9.1% and 4.9% of the stock.

A deeper look at our ownership data shows that the top 25 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, suggesting a large group of small holders where no single shareholder has a majority.

While studying institutional ownership for a company can add value to your research, it is also a good practice to research analyst recommendations to get a deeper understand of a stock's expected performance. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Prudential Financial

The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

I generally consider insider ownership to be a good thing. However, on some occasions it makes it more difficult for other shareholders to hold the board accountable for decisions.

Our information suggests that Prudential Financial, Inc. insiders own under 1% of the company. It is a very large company, so it would be surprising to see insiders own a large proportion of the company. Though their holding amounts to less than 1%, we can see that board members collectively own US$76m worth of shares (at current prices). Arguably recent buying and selling is just as important to consider. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

With a 38% ownership, the general public, mostly comprising of individual investors, have some degree of sway over Prudential Financial. While this group can't necessarily call the shots, it can certainly have a real influence on how the company is run.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Prudential Financial better, we need to consider many other factors.

Many find it useful to take an in depth look at how a company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Ultimately the future is most important. You can access this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.