Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Has $256,000 Stock Position in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 18.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,318 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 2,967 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $256,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BEN. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 173.7% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,531,700 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $71,658,000 after purchasing an additional 2,241,500 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP increased its position in Franklin Resources by 132.7% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 2,935,292 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $59,557,000 after acquiring an additional 1,673,971 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in Franklin Resources by 19.6% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 9,403,875 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $190,805,000 after acquiring an additional 1,542,478 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Franklin Resources by 336.0% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 786,722 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $15,963,000 after acquiring an additional 1,120,022 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kettle Hill Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Franklin Resources in the 4th quarter valued at about $20,325,000. 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. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $21.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Franklin Resources currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.58.

Franklin Resources Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE BEN opened at $25.06 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.01 billion, a PE ratio of 49.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.25 and a 1 year high of $26.08. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $24.22 and its 200-day moving average is $21.45.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The closed-end fund reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 3.73% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. Franklin Resources’s quarterly revenue was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th were paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 27th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.1%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 250.98%.

Franklin Resources Profile

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.