Barclays Maintains an 'Overweight' on Prudential Financial (PRU); Raising EPS Estimates on Share Buyback Plan

Barclays maintains an 'Overweight' on Prudential Financial (NYSE: PRU), PT $77.

Barclays analyst says, "PRU announced today a new share repurchase program with authorization of up to $1.5bn through June 30, 2012, which is slightly ahead of expectations. Although widely anticipated, PRU's resumption of share buybacks shows the company now has an important lever to drive ROE higher. We anticipate the other major topics to be discussed at PRU's investor day include the potential for deployment of additional excess capital, benefits of the Star/Edison acquisition, and potential exposure to SIFI regulation (which we expect to be manageable)."

"We are raising our operating EPS estimates for PRU to $6.75 (consensus=$6.66) in 2011 from $6.70, and to $8.00 (consensus=$7.70) in 2012 from $7.70 to reflect increased share repurchase activity."

For more ratings news on Prudential Financial click here and for the rating history of Prudential Financial click here.

Shares of Prudential Financial closed at $59.56 yesterday.

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