Jump Financial LLC Has $6.55 Million Stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Key Points

• Jump Financial LLC increased its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. by 141.1% during the 1st quarter, now owning approximately $6.5 million worth of shares.
• Several hedge funds, including CoreCap Advisors and GeoWealth Management, also reported significant increases in their positions with growth percentages exceeding 350%.
• Franklin Resources reported earnings of $0.49 per share, exceeding expectations, but showed a 2.2% year-over-year decline in revenue, totaling $2.06 billion for the quarter.

Jump Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN - Free Report) by 141.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 340,044 shares of the closed-end fund's stock after purchasing an additional 198,996 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC owned 0.06% of Franklin Resources worth $6,546,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Franklin Resources by 22.5% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 464,238 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $8,937,000 after buying an additional 85,407 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Franklin Resources in the first quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Franklin Resources by 5.9% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 81,576 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $1,573,000 after buying an additional 4,530 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in Franklin Resources in the first quarter valued at approximately $811,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in Franklin Resources by 4.3% in the first quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 476,253 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $9,168,000 after buying an additional 19,673 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BEN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Franklin Resources from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $29.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Franklin Resources from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $23.58.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

NYSE:BEN traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $25.69. 1,710,159 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,453,433. The company has a market capitalization of $13.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.46. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 1-year low of $16.25 and a 1-year 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 50 day moving average of $24.65 and a 200 day moving average of $21.69.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The closed-end fund reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.38 billion. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 8.76% and a net margin of 3.73%.The firm's quarterly revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Franklin Resources's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 250.98%.

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.