Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Cuts Stock Position in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Key Points

• Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund reduced its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 38.4%, now holding 38,494 shares valued at $741,000 after selling 24,000 shares in the first quarter.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Franklin Resources, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. increasing theirs from $22.00 to $29.00, while the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a price target of $23.58.
• Franklin Resources recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.32 per share, representing an annualized dividend yield of 5.1%, despite a high dividend payout ratio of 250.98%.

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lessened its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN - Free Report) by 38.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 38,494 shares of the closed-end fund's stock after selling 24,000 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund's holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $741,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BEN. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 230.1% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 291,821 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $5,921,000 after acquiring an additional 203,414 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 56.7% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 17,026 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $345,000 after buying an additional 6,162 shares during the period. Mariner LLC grew its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 61.7% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 54,764 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $1,111,000 after buying an additional 20,905 shares during the period. Guggenheim Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 88,298 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $1,792,000 after buying an additional 5,550 shares during the period. Finally, GeoWealth Management LLC grew its position in Franklin Resources by 350.4% during the 4th quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 1,261 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 981 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company's stock.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of Franklin Resources stock traded up $0.80 on Friday, hitting $25.32. 1,806,080 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,488,460. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 1.55. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.25 and a 52 week high of $26.08. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.52.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on BEN. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Franklin Resources from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $29.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $21.50 to $26.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $23.58.

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.