Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), said it would close its stock research, sales and trading division, with over 400 job cuts at 13 locations worldwide expected.

The Newark, N.J.-based company said Wednesday that operations at Prudential Equity Group would be shut down by the end of June.

Prudential estimates that shutting the business will cost $110 million, including $75 million for severance pay for workers, who were notified Wednesday. The costs will be recorded this quarter, Prudential said.

Some analysts believe that the research group did not fit into the parent company's overall business model.

Last year, the equity group reported revenue of $260 million, less than 1 percent of the $32 billion revenue the parent company generated.

The former, privately held Prudential Life Insurance Co. got into the brokerage business in the early 1980s and grew through several acquisitions.

It later dropped its investment banking arm and sold its retail brokerage assets to Wachovia Corp.

The group will close offices in New York, Washington, San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Atlanta, Boston and Kansas City, Mo., as well as London, Zurich, Paris and Tokyo.

New Jersey Wachovia