Paragon Capital Management Ltd Has $202,000 Stock Holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Paragon Capital Management Ltd reduced its position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 14.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,014 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 1,690 shares during the quarter. Paragon Capital Management Ltd’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BEN. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in shares of Franklin Resources in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Franklin Resources in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Franklin Resources during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Franklin Resources during the 1st quarter worth approximately $44,000. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group cut their target price on Franklin Resources from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 4th. BMO Capital Markets lowered 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. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $23.75 to $21.25 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.43.

Franklin Resources Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE BEN opened at $20.11 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $20.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.73. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a one year low of $18.94 and a one year high of $30.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.52 billion, a PE ratio of 12.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 1.71.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The closed-end fund reported $0.60 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.4 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is presently 76.07%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Charles B. Johnson acquired 100,000 shares of Franklin Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $19.84 per share, with a total value of $1,984,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 89,208,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,769,890,529.28. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Franklin Resources news, major shareholder Charles B. Johnson bought 100,000 shares of Franklin Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $19.84 per share, for a total transaction of $1,984,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,208,192 shares in the company, valued at $1,769,890,529.28. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jennifer M. Johnson purchased 12,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $19.66 per share, with a total value of $249,682.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,637,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,857,182. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 231,600 shares of company stock worth $4,537,637 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 24.13% of the company’s stock.

Franklin Resources Profile

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.