Bank of New York Mellon Corp Has $39.13 Million Stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,640,581 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 69,868 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.31% of Franklin Resources worth $39,128,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 49.9% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 39.4% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 732 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its stake in Franklin Resources by 78.3% during the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 3,139 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 1,378 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 80.2% in the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,777 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 245.1% in the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 3,379 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 2,400 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of Franklin Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Barclays reduced their price objective on Franklin Resources from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Franklin Resources in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $26.00 target price on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $23.91.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

NYSE BEN opened at $23.01 on Thursday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.25 and a 1 year high of $26.08. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $11.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.49.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The closed-end fund reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.10. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 3.73% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.6%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 140.66%.

About Franklin Resources

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.