We are investigating Prudential Financial, Inc. (PRU) (“Prudential” or the “Company”) for potential violations of the federal securities laws.
On July 31, 2019, Prudential announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2019, including EPS of $3.14, which missed analyst consensus estimates by $0.09, and disclosed that that Company would take a pre-tax charge of $208 million as a result of its market experience update. In the earnings release, Prudential acknowledged that changes in “mortality assumptions” had negatively impacted the Company’s results and would “trim” near-term momentum. On August 1, 2019, Prudential held a conference call to discuss its quarterly financial results, and revealed that the change in mortality assumptions would have a much more significant effect on the Company’s financial condition and would require a negative earnings impact of $25 million per quarter for the foreseeable future, wiping out approximately one third of the earnings attributable to the Individual Life business segment. On this news, Prudential’s stock price fell $10.22 per share, or 10.09%, to close at $91.09 per share on August 1, 2019. Then, on August 2, 2019, Prudential filed its quarterly report for the second quarter of 2019, which provided additional information concerning the Company’s adjustments to operating income by segment, including that the $208 million pre-tax charge to reserves was entirely attributable to the Individual Life business segment.