Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN Stock Position Trimmed by ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V.

ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. decreased its position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN - Free Report) by 51.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,228 shares of the closed-end fund's stock after selling 15,064 shares during the period. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V.'s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $339,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BEN. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Franklin Resources by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,985,065 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $230,713,000 after acquiring an additional 263,619 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 20.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,223,369 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $139,040,000 after purchasing an additional 1,220,419 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 99.1% during the first quarter. Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. now owns 5,237,650 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $100,825,000 after purchasing an additional 2,607,460 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 0.7% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 3,778,910 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $72,009,000 after purchasing an additional 26,584 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Franklin Resources by 9.9% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,392,081 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $65,298,000 after purchasing an additional 305,736 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company's stock.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BEN opened at $23.80 on Monday. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $24.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.66, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.25 and a 52-week high of $26.08.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The closed-end fund reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion during 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%.Franklin Resources's revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Franklin Resources's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 250.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BEN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays restated an "underweight" rating and set a $23.00 price target (up from $20.00) on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Monday, August 4th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Franklin Resources in a report on Friday. They set an "outperform" rating and a $26.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, 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 report on Monday, August 4th. Four equities research 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.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $24.25.

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.

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