California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 26,573 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 525,319 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 26,573 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $15,649,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 148.7% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 65,100 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $1,939,000 after buying an additional 38,919 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 1,491,598 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $44,435,000 after acquiring an additional 144,843 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 53.6% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 1,188,199 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $35,396,000 after purchasing an additional 414,826 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 13.0% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 966,212 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $23,749,000 after purchasing an additional 110,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Mexico Educational Retirement Board increased its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 7.2% in the third quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 14,873 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BEN has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised Franklin Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $24.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Franklin Resources from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Thursday, January 4th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 price objective on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Franklin Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.50.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BEN opened at $23.38 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.37. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $21.88 and a fifty-two week high of $30.32. The company has a market capitalization of $12.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.40. 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 issued 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 the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.51 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.30%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio 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.