Bank of America Corp DE Sells 434,394 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Bank of America Corp DE reduced its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN - Free Report) by 42.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 597,793 shares of the closed-end fund's stock after selling 434,394 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned about 0.11% of Franklin Resources worth $12,129,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Resources during the fourth quarter worth about $53,676,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 33.1% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 6,438,863 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $130,645,000 after purchasing an additional 1,599,849 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 62.9% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 3,752,326 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $75,928,000 after buying an additional 1,449,210 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Franklin Resources by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,715,809 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $765,254,000 after purchasing an additional 1,095,373 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,721,446 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $237,828,000 after buying an additional 1,011,755 shares during the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on BEN shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $21.50 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays lifted their target price on Franklin Resources from $17.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Cowen upgraded Franklin Resources from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Franklin Resources has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $20.25.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

BEN stock traded up $0.72 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $22.23. 2,026,512 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,355,102. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.25 and a 52 week high of $24.37. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $19.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.68 billion, a PE ratio of 34.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.39.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 2nd. The closed-end fund reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.47. The firm had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.44 billion. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 4.32%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 27th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.76%. Franklin Resources's payout ratio is currently 188.24%.

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.