Legal & General Group Plc Sells 95,507 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc cut its Franklin Resources stake by 8.3% in the fourth quarter, selling 95,507 shares and leaving it with 1,058,710 shares worth about $25.3 million.
• Several other institutional investors either increased or maintained positions, and overall 47.56% of Franklin Resources stock is held by hedge funds and other institutions.
• Analysts are mixed on the stock: the consensus rating is Hold with an average price target of $29.56, while Franklin Resources recently beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates and declared a $0.33 quarterly dividend.

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN - Free Report) by 8.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,058,710 shares of the closed-end fund's stock after selling 95,507 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.20% of Franklin Resources worth $25,293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,065,908 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $232,833,000 after buying an additional 553,184 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,083,168 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $169,217,000 after purchasing an additional 243,836 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Franklin Resources by 49.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,118,686 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $95,265,000 after purchasing an additional 1,370,132 shares in the last quarter. Azora Capital LP grew its holdings in Franklin Resources by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Azora Capital LP now owns 3,242,470 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $74,998,000 after buying an additional 53,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources during the second quarter valued at about $51,384,000. 47.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $21.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Franklin Resources from $30.50 to $34.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings cut Franklin Resources from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Evercore reissued an "underperform" rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Barclays set a $31.00 target price on shares of Franklin Resources and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Franklin Resources has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $29.56.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of Franklin Resources stock opened at $31.07 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $27.69 and a 200 day moving average of $25.86. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.06 and a 52 week high of $32.44. The company has a market cap of $16.14 billion, a PE ratio of 23.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The closed-end fund reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 8.12% and a return on equity of 10.58%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.33 per share. This represents a $1.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 29th. Franklin Resources's payout ratio is 100.76%.

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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