Freestone Grove Partners LP Purchases Shares of 975,933 Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Key Points

• Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired 975,933 shares of Franklin Resources in the second quarter, worth approximately $32.5 million and representing about 0.19% of the company. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 47.56% of BEN.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed, with a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $32.44; ratings include four Buys, five Holds, and two Sells.
• Franklin Resources exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $0.72 in EPS versus $0.66 expected and revenue of $2.36 billion, up 14.3% year over year. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.33, an annualized yield of approximately 3.8%.

Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 975,933 shares of the closed-end fund's stock, valued at approximately $32,469,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP owned about 0.19% of Franklin Resources at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BEN. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 26.2% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 148,049 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $2,850,000 after acquiring an additional 30,763 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 169.3% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 7,909 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $152,000 after purchasing an additional 4,972 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 41.1% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 26,189 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $504,000 after purchasing an additional 7,634 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new position in shares of Franklin Resources in the second quarter valued at approximately $169,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 52.2% during the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 509,171 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $12,144,000 after buying an additional 174,579 shares during the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BEN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore reissued an "underperform" rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "hold" rating and set a $34.00 price target on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $32.44.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BEN opened at $34.83 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.55. The company's 50-day moving average is $33.66 and its 200 day moving average is $29.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a current ratio of 1.48. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $21.10 and a fifty-two week high of $36.28.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.06. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 8.72% and a return on equity of 11.55%. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.76 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be issued a $0.33 dividend. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 30th. Franklin Resources's payout ratio is 89.80%.

About Franklin Resources

Franklin Resources, Inc, doing business as Franklin Templeton, is a global investment management organization that offers a wide range of asset management solutions to institutional and individual investors. The firm's core focus is on delivering active portfolio management across equities, fixed income, multi-asset strategies and alternative investments. Franklin Templeton's product lineup includes mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), closed-end funds, separately managed accounts and sub-advisory services designed to meet varying risk-return objectives and income needs.

Founded in 1947 by Rupert H.

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