Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Lowers Stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC cut its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 14.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 467,519 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 81,113 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC owned about 0.09% of Franklin Resources worth $10,814,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Azora Capital LP bought a new position in Franklin Resources in the 2nd quarter worth about $76,051,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources in the second quarter valued at approximately $60,618,000. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in Franklin Resources in the second quarter worth approximately $51,384,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new position in Franklin Resources during the 3rd quarter worth $32,293,000. Finally, Natixis raised its position in Franklin Resources by 6,959.8% during the 2nd quarter. Natixis now owns 584,414 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $13,938,000 after purchasing an additional 576,136 shares in the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BEN. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Franklin Resources currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $24.09.

Franklin Resources Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of Franklin Resources stock opened at $25.66 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $13.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.19, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.44. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $23.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.90. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.25 and a 52-week high of $26.08.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The closed-end fund reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.10. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 5.98% and a return on equity of 9.12%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.17 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. Franklin Resources’s revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 9th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 30th were paid a dividend of $0.33 per share. This is a positive change from Franklin Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 30th. This represents a $1.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.1%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 145.05%.

About Franklin Resources

Franklin Resources, Inc, doing business as Franklin Templeton, is a global investment management organization that offers a wide range of asset management solutions to institutional and individual investors. The firm’s core focus is on delivering active portfolio management across equities, fixed income, multi-asset strategies and alternative investments. Franklin Templeton’s product lineup includes mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), closed-end funds, separately managed accounts and sub-advisory services designed to meet varying risk-return objectives and income needs.

Founded in 1947 by Rupert H.