Vanguard Group Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 37,250,326 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 555,938 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 7.17% of Franklin Resources worth $861,600,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Franklin Resources by 26.2% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 148,049 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $2,850,000 after purchasing an additional 30,763 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in Franklin Resources by 169.3% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 7,909 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $152,000 after acquiring an additional 4,972 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP increased its position in Franklin Resources by 41.1% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 26,189 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $504,000 after acquiring an additional 7,634 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 7.8% in the second quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 27,033 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $645,000 after purchasing an additional 1,959 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ethic Inc. boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 25.1% in the second quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 84,362 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $2,010,000 after purchasing an additional 16,950 shares during the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BEN has been the subject of several research reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 31st. Finally, Evercore boosted their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Franklin Resources has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $25.89.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BEN opened at $27.67 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $25.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.86 and a quick ratio of 1.86. The stock has a market cap of $14.41 billion, a PE ratio of 25.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.46. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.25 and a 1 year high of $28.32.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The closed-end fund reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.15. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 9.58%. The company had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. Franklin Resources’s quarterly revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 122.22%.

About Franklin Resources

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.