Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Has $134.87 Million Stock Position in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reduced its holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 15.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,645,590 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 1,006,945 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned approximately 1.08% of Franklin Resources worth $134,873,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources during the fourth quarter worth $98,168,000. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources during the second quarter worth $51,384,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 49.8% during 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 period. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 381.7% during 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 period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 167.5% during 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 period. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BEN. Evercore reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $32.00 price objective on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.00.

Franklin Resources Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE BEN opened at $31.39 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $16.31 billion, a PE ratio of 23.96, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.55. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 12-month low of $21.10 and a 12-month high of $32.47. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The closed-end fund reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 8.12% and a return on equity of 10.58%. Franklin Resources’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 29th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.76%.

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.