Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP (https://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases-prudential-financial-class-action-lawsuit.html) today announced that it filed a class action on behalf of an institutional investor seeking to represent purchasers of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU) common stock during the period between February 15, 2019 and August 2, 2019 (the “Class Period”). This action was filed in the District of New Jersey and is captioned City of Warren Police and Fire Ret. Sys. v. Prudential Financial, Inc., et al., No. 19-cv-20839.
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 permits any investor who purchased Prudential common stock during the Class Period to seek appointment as lead plaintiff in the Prudential class action lawsuit. A lead plaintiff acts on behalf of all other class members in directing the Prudential class action lawsuit. The lead plaintiff can select a law firm of its choice to litigate the Prudential class action lawsuit. An investor’s ability to share in any potential future recovery of the Prudential class action lawsuit is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff in the Prudential class action lawsuit, you must move the Court no later than 60 days from today. If you wish to discuss the Prudential class action lawsuit or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiff’s counsel, Shawn A. Williams of Robbins Geller at 800/449-4900 or 619/231-1058, or via e-mail at shawnw@rgrdlaw.com. You can view a copy of the complaint as filed at https://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases-prudential-financial-class-action-lawsuit.html.
The Prudential class action lawsuit charges Prudential and certain of its officers with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Prudential provides a wide range of insurance, investment management, and other financial products and services to both individual and institutional customers throughout the United States and in many other countries.
The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, defendants made materially false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose adverse information regarding Prudential’s business and prospects. Specifically, defendants failed to disclose the following facts: (a) the Company’s reserve assumptions failed to account for adversely developing mortality experience in its Individual Life business segment; (b) the Company was not over-reserved, but instead, its reported reserves, particularly for the Individual Life business segment, were insufficient to satisfy its future policy benefits liabilities; and (c) the Company had materially understated its liabilities and overstated net income as a result of flawed assumptions in calculating mortality experience. As a result of this adverse information being withheld from the market, the price of Prudential common stock was artificially inflated to more than $105 per share during the Class Period.
On July 31, 2019, the Company announced disappointing second quarter 2019 financial results, including earnings per share of $3.14, which missed analyst consensus estimates by $0.09, and disclosed that the Company would take a pre-tax charge of $208 million as a result of its market experience update. In the earnings release, Prudential’s CEO acknowledged that changes in “mortality assumptions” had negatively impacted the Company’s results and would “trim” near-term momentum.
On August 1, 2019, the Company held a conference call to discuss its second quarter 2019 financial results. On the call, defendants revealed that the change in mortality assumptions 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. As a result of these disclosures, Prudential’s stock price declined more than 10% to close at $91.09 per share on August 1, 2019.
Then on August 2, 2019, Prudential filed its quarterly report on Form 10-Q with the SEC 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. As a result of these further negative disclosures, Prudential’s stock price declined another 5.6%, falling to $88.56 per share on August 2, 2019 and to $85.95 per share on August 5, 2019.
The plaintiff is represented by Robbins Geller, which has extensive experience in prosecuting investor class actions including actions involving financial fraud.
Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP is one of the world’s leading law firms representing investors in securities litigation. With 200 lawyers in 9 offices, Robbins Geller has obtained many of the largest securities class action recoveries in history. For six consecutive years, ISS Securities Class Action Services has ranked the Firm in its annual SCAS Top 50 Report as one of the top law firms in the world in both amount recovered for shareholders and total number of class action settlements. Robbins Geller attorneys have helped shape the securities laws and have recovered tens of billions of dollars on behalf of aggrieved victims. Beyond securing financial recoveries for defrauded investors, Robbins Geller also specializes in implementing corporate governance reforms, helping to improve the financial markets for investors worldwide. Robbins Geller attorneys are consistently recognized by courts, professional organizations and the media as leading lawyers in the industry. Please visit http://www.rgrdlaw.com for more information.
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