Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) Stock Position Reduced by Raymond James & Associates

Raymond James & Associates cut its holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 90.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 82,780 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 808,284 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $2,466,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BEN. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Franklin Resources by 63.4% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 74,206 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $2,072,000 after acquiring an additional 28,795 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Franklin Resources by 24.8% in the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 11,477 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $320,000 after acquiring an additional 2,277 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Franklin Resources by 23.5% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 76,665 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $2,140,000 after acquiring an additional 14,580 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Franklin Resources by 89.2% in the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 36,852 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $1,029,000 after acquiring an additional 17,376 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in Franklin Resources by 4.0% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 489,475 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $13,666,000 after acquiring an additional 18,645 shares during the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BEN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Franklin Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 19th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.39.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

NYSE:BEN opened at $24.94 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $13.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.13, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.40. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a one year low of $21.88 and a one year high of $30.32. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $27.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The closed-end fund reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 12.30% and a return on equity of 11.15%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.51 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.26%.

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.