Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ Decreases Stock Position in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ cut its position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 45.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 32,664 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 27,486 shares during the quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $779,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BEN. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in Franklin Resources by 15.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 102,089 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $1,965,000 after acquiring an additional 13,578 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 23.8% in the first quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 22,439 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $432,000 after purchasing an additional 4,315 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 17.0% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 24,028 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $463,000 after purchasing an additional 3,485 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 49.5% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 140,184 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $2,699,000 after purchasing an additional 46,395 shares during the period. Finally, Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 49.9% during the 1st 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. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BEN. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Barclays reduced their price target 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. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Monday, November 24th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Franklin Resources in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $26.00 target price for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Franklin Resources from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $23.91.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

NYSE:BEN opened at $22.44 on Wednesday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.25 and a 52-week high of $26.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $22.69 and a 200 day moving average of $23.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.47.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The closed-end fund reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.17 billion. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 9.12% and a net margin of 5.98%.The company’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.