AQR Capital Management LLC Sells 2,062,287 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC has reduced its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. by 68%, selling over 2 million shares, and now holds about 0.18% of the company valued at approximately $18.4 million.
• Franklin Resources reported $0.49 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing analyst expectations, although revenues were down 2.2% year-over-year.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.32 per share, representing a dividend yield of 5.2%, with a payout ratio of 250.98%.

AQR Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN - Free Report) by 68.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 971,449 shares of the closed-end fund's stock after selling 2,062,287 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.18% of Franklin Resources worth $18,409,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources in the fourth quarter valued at about $436,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 147.1% in the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,238 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 737 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 30.3% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,887,458 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $38,297,000 after buying an additional 438,621 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 46.9% in the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 477,613 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $9,691,000 after buying an additional 152,586 shares during the period. Finally, Ethic Inc. increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 69,089 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $1,402,000 after buying an additional 8,686 shares during the period. 47.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Franklin Resources from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $29.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Franklin Resources from $21.50 to $26.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Zacks Research cut Franklin Resources from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $23.00 target price (up previously from $20.00) on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $23.58.

Franklin Resources Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of BEN stock traded down $0.22 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $24.65. The company had a trading volume of 3,034,050 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,416,089. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.25 and a 12 month high of $26.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.55. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.01. The company has a market cap of $12.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.51.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The closed-end fund reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.03. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 8.76% and a net margin of 3.73%.The company had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. Franklin Resources's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 250.98%.

Franklin Resources 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.