Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) Price Target Lowered to $19.00 at Morgan Stanley

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) had its price objective dropped by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $21.00 to $19.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “underweight” rating on the closed-end fund’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective suggests a potential downside of 8.03% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $23.00 target price on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $23.75 to $21.25 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.73.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

NYSE BEN opened at $20.66 on Friday. Franklin Resources has a 52 week low of $18.94 and a 52 week high of $30.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.81, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $20.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.53.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The closed-end fund reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 10.60%. The firm had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Franklin Resources Inc sold 7,657 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.90, for a total transaction of $336,142.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 65,862 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,891,341.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Franklin Resources Inc sold 7,657 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.90, for a total transaction of $336,142.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 65,862 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,891,341.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Charles B. Johnson bought 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $19.08 per share, with a total value of $1,908,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,308,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,704,000,303.36. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 231,600 shares of company stock worth $4,537,637. 24.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Franklin Resources

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BEN. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in Franklin Resources in the fourth quarter worth $974,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 104.1% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 18,129 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $540,000 after buying an additional 9,245 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 4.4% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,652 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $271,000 after buying an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp bought a new stake in Franklin Resources in the first quarter worth $1,347,000. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 6.9% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 52,802 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $1,484,000 after buying an additional 3,426 shares during the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Franklin Resources

Franklin Resources, Inc is a publicly owned asset management holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the firm provides its services to individuals, institutions, pension plans, trusts, and partnerships. It launches equity, fixed income, balanced, and multi-asset mutual funds through its subsidiaries.