Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) Holdings Cut by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 15.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 228,981 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 41,240 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $6,821,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 6.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,563,774 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $161,338,000 after purchasing an additional 415,512 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Franklin Resources by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,053,751 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $75,061,000 after buying an additional 202,288 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,840,863 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $45,248,000 after buying an additional 14,896 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 138.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,750,779 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $43,034,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015,225 shares during the period. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $44,435,000 after acquiring an additional 144,843 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BEN shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Franklin Resources from $30.00 to $27.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered Franklin Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.00.

Franklin Resources Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of BEN opened at $23.38 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 1-year low of $21.88 and a 1-year high of $30.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.44. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $26.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.32.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The closed-end fund reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.01). Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 11.09%. The firm had revenue of $2.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.66 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.61 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.86%.

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.