ProShare Advisors LLC Sells 834,113 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Key Points

• ProShare Advisors reduced its Franklin Resources stake by 13.9%, selling 834,113 shares and retaining 5.19 million shares valued at approximately $166.6 million. Institutional investors collectively own 47.56% of the company.
• Franklin Resources reported quarterly earnings of $0.72 per share, exceeding estimates of $0.66, while revenue rose 14.3% year over year to $2.36 billion.
• The company pays a quarterly dividend of $0.33, equivalent to a 4.2% annualized yield. Analysts maintain a consensus “Hold” rating with an average price target of $35.89, compared with the stock’s reported price of $31.66.

ProShare Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN - Free Report) by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,188,212 shares of the closed-end fund's stock after selling 834,113 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC owned approximately 1.02% of Franklin Resources worth $166,645,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Unison Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Unison Advisors LLC now owns 116,911 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $3,794,000 after purchasing an additional 1,127 shares in the last quarter. Americana Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 69,765 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $2,241,000 after purchasing an additional 3,485 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al raised its holdings in Franklin Resources by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 46,900 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $1,506,000 after acquiring an additional 4,300 shares during the period. Founders Financial Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources in the third quarter valued at approximately $740,000. Finally, Choreo LLC raised its holdings in Franklin Resources by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 7,590 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $244,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company's stock.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

NYSE:BEN opened at $31.66 on Friday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.10 and a 1 year high of $36.28. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.20. The company has a market capitalization of $16.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.48.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.76 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 8.72% and a return on equity of 11.55%. Franklin Resources's revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.49 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 30th were issued a $0.33 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. Franklin Resources's payout ratio is 89.80%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on BEN. Evercore restated an "underperform" rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Friday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Monday, August 31st. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Franklin Resources from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 12th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $35.89.

Franklin Resources Profile

Franklin Resources, Inc, operating under the Franklin Templeton name, is a global investment management organization headquartered in San Mateo, California. The company provides investment solutions to individuals, financial professionals, institutions, and other clients worldwide.

Its products and services include mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, separately managed accounts, institutional portfolios, and alternative investment strategies. Through its investment teams and specialist affiliates, Franklin Templeton offers capabilities across equities, fixed income, multi-asset strategies, private markets, real assets, and other areas of asset management.

Franklin Resources was founded in 1947 by Rupert H.

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