WBI Investments LLC Has $1.64 Million Holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Key Points

• WBI Investments LLC reduced its holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. by 17.2%, owning 85,411 shares worth approximately $1.64 million as of the end of the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors have increased their positions in Franklin Resources, with notable increases from Invesco Ltd. (2.2%), ProShare Advisors LLC (19.6%), and Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. (99.1%) in the first quarter.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.32, set to be paid on October 10th, translating to an annualized yield of 5.3%, despite a high payout ratio of 250.98%.

WBI Investments LLC cut its holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN - Free Report) by 17.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 85,411 shares of the closed-end fund's stock after selling 17,758 shares during the period. WBI Investments LLC's holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $1,644,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BEN. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Franklin Resources by 2.2% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,985,065 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $230,713,000 after buying an additional 263,619 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in 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 worth $190,805,000 after buying an additional 1,542,478 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in 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 worth $139,040,000 after buying an additional 1,220,419 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. increased its holdings in Franklin Resources by 99.1% during the first quarter. Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. now owns 5,237,650 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $100,825,000 after buying an additional 2,607,460 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Franklin Resources by 0.7% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 3,778,910 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $72,009,000 after buying an additional 26,584 shares during the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on BEN shares. Barclays restated an "underweight" rating and set a $23.00 target price (up from $20.00) on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Monday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $21.50 to $26.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Franklin Resources from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $23.58.

Franklin Resources Trading Down 1.0%

BEN stock opened at $24.30 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.55. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $24.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.98. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a one year low of $16.25 and a one year high of $26.08. The stock has a market cap of $12.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.51.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.38 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 3.73% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. Franklin Resources's payout ratio is presently 250.98%.

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.

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