Prudential Financial (PRU: sentiment, chart, options) failed to get a nice boost this morning from a positive broker note. Before the open this morning, PRU was upgraded from "hold" to "buy" at Citigroup. Looking in on the ratings for the shares, we find that Wall Street is currently mixed when it comes to the financial firm. According to Zacks, the stock has earned 6 "buy" ratings and 6 "holds." Meanwhile, the average 12-month price target for the equity stands at a whopping $57.93, according to Thomson Financial. This target implies that analysts are expecting the shares to rally more than 184% during the next year. This leaves the door wide open for potential price-target cuts for the shares.

Options players are relatively optimistic when it comes to PRU. The Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio rests at 1.00, as put open interest equal call open interest among options set to expire in less than 3 months. However, the ratio is lower than two-thirds of the reading taken during the past 52 weeks.

Furthermore the International Securities Exchange has seen an increase in call trading. During the past 10 trading sessions, an average of 1.7 calls have been purchased to open for every 1 put purchased to open. This ratio of calls to puts is higher than 80.7% of all the reading taken during the past year, pointing to a swelling in optimism from speculators.

In trading this morning, the shares are down more than 6%, as they hold tightly to round-number support at the 20 level. The security is currently resting between support and resistance at its 10-day and 20-day moving averages. These trendlines have guided the shares lower since late September. It also appears that the equity is consolidating sideways into resistance at its declining 10-week moving average.