Franklin Resources Inc Sells 7,657 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) Stock

Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) 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 value of $336,142.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 65,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,891,341.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

BEN stock opened at $20.67 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $20.47 and a 200-day moving average of $22.53. The company has a market cap of $10.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.81, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 12-month low of $18.94 and a 12-month high of $30.32.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The closed-end fund reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.09 billion. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 10.60% and a net margin of 10.24%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.00%. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is 70.86%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Franklin Resources

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 40.2% during the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 18,092 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 5,190 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its holdings in Franklin Resources by 19.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 87,645 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $1,766,000 after buying an additional 14,332 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Franklin Resources by 21.2% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,650 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $235,000 after buying an additional 2,038 shares in the last quarter. B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC increased its position in Franklin Resources by 9.6% during the third quarter. B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC now owns 62,254 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $1,254,000 after buying an additional 5,454 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 58.2% in the third quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 132,569 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $2,671,000 after acquiring an additional 48,753 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BEN. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on 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 reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $23.00 target price on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. UBS Group cut their price target 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. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Franklin Resources from $23.75 to $21.25 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.33.

Franklin Resources Company 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.