Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 140,540 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 37,109,786 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 140,540 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.07% of Franklin Resources worth $886,553,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BEN. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in Franklin Resources in the second quarter worth approximately $51,384,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Franklin Resources by 49.8% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,118,686 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $95,265,000 after buying an additional 1,370,132 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its holdings in Franklin Resources by 381.7% in the third quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 1,433,816 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $33,164,000 after buying an additional 1,136,174 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP increased its holdings in Franklin Resources by 167.5% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 1,494,817 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $34,575,000 after buying an additional 936,105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in Franklin Resources by 1,109.0% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 775,490 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $17,937,000 after buying an additional 711,347 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays set a $31.00 price objective on Franklin Resources and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Franklin Resources from $30.50 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Franklin Resources from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Evercore restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Franklin Resources from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Franklin Resources has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.56.

Franklin Resources Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of BEN stock opened at $29.88 on Friday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.80 and a 12 month high of $30.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The business’s 50 day moving average is $25.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.70. The company has a market cap of $15.53 billion, a PE ratio of 22.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.56.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The closed-end fund reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.16. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 10.58% and a net margin of 8.12%.The company had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were paid a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.76%.

Franklin Resources Profile

Franklin Resources, Inc, doing business as Franklin Templeton, is a global investment management organization that offers a wide range of asset management solutions to institutional and individual investors. The firm’s core focus is on delivering active portfolio management across equities, fixed income, multi-asset strategies and alternative investments. Franklin Templeton’s product lineup includes mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), closed-end funds, separately managed accounts and sub-advisory services designed to meet varying risk-return objectives and income needs.

Founded in 1947 by Rupert H.