Freestone Capital Holdings LLC Has $196,000 Holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Key Points

• Freestone Capital Holdings LLC significantly reduced its stake in Franklin Resources, selling 178,351 shares and dropping its ownership by 94.6%, resulting in a remaining ownership of 10,176 shares valued at $196,000.
• Multiple large investors have increased their holdings in Franklin Resources, with GeoWealth Management LLC boosting its shares by 350.4% in the last quarter.
• Recent analyst ratings for Franklin Resources have varied, with Goldman Sachs upgrading the stock to a "buy" rating and setting a target price of $29.00, while the average rating for the stock is currently "Reduce" with a target of $23.58.

Freestone Capital Holdings LLC lowered its position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN - Free Report) by 94.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,176 shares of the closed-end fund's stock after selling 178,351 shares during the quarter. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC's holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $196,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 173.7% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,531,700 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $71,658,000 after acquiring an additional 2,241,500 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 132.7% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,935,292 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $59,557,000 after acquiring an additional 1,673,971 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 19.6% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 9,403,875 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $190,805,000 after acquiring an additional 1,542,478 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 20.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,223,369 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $139,040,000 after acquiring an additional 1,220,419 shares during the period. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 336.0% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 786,722 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $15,963,000 after acquiring an additional 1,120,022 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company's stock.

Franklin Resources Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:BEN traded down $0.01 during trading on Monday, reaching $25.38. 3,121,507 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,038,514. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.60. The firm has a market cap of $13.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.77, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on BEN shares. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $27.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded 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 note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an "underweight" rating and set a $23.00 price objective (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 assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Reduce" and an average target price 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.