Freestone Capital Holdings LLC Has $196,000 Stock 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 stake in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN - Free Report) by 94.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & 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 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 2.2% in the first 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. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 19.6% in 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 boosted its position 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 valued at $139,040,000 after acquiring an additional 1,220,419 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 173.7% in 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. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 1.9% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,156,407 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $60,761,000 after acquiring an additional 58,428 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Franklin Resources from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $29.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Barclays restated an "underweight" rating and set a $23.00 target price (up previously from $20.00) on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Monday, August 4th. TD Cowen upgraded Franklin Resources from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Zacks Research cut Franklin Resources from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Franklin Resources from $21.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Three 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Franklin Resources currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $23.58.

Franklin Resources Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NYSE BEN traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $25.29. 622,877 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,477,999. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.60, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.57. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.25 and a twelve month high of $26.08.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The closed-end fund reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.