Aviva PLC Sells 420 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Aviva PLC reduced its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN – Get Rating) by 1.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 39,460 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 420 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $849,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital Analysts LLC raised its stake in Franklin Resources by 31.8% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 1,447 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the period. Lumature Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Lumature Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,953 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $214,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares during the period. Kinneret Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC now owns 22,250 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $628,000 after buying an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Commerce Bank boosted its holdings in Franklin Resources by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 127,112 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $2,735,000 after buying an additional 516 shares during the period. Finally, Securian Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Franklin Resources by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,443 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $504,000 after buying an additional 533 shares in the last quarter. 45.47% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of Franklin Resources stock opened at $29.47 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $29.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.64. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a one year low of $20.24 and a one year high of $34.37. The stock has a market cap of $14.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.04 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 4.97 and a current ratio of 4.97.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 30th. The closed-end fund reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $1.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 12.52% and a return on equity of 12.69%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.34 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 31st will be given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 30th. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Alok Sethi sold 29,503 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.09, for a total transaction of $917,248.27. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 92,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,864,383.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 23.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Franklin Resources from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.27.

About Franklin Resources

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Franklin Resources, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of investment management and related services. The firm offers services and products under various distinct brand names, including, but not limited to, Franklin, Templeton, Legg Mason, Benefit Street Partners, Brandywine Global Investment Management, Clarion Partners, ClearBridge Investments, Fiduciary Trust International, Franklin Bissett, Franklin Mutual Series, K2, LibertyShares, Martin Currie, Royce Investment Partners and Western Asset Management Company.