Wright Investors Service Inc. Reduces Holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Wright Investors Service Inc. trimmed its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 15.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 61,318 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 11,516 shares during the period. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $1,827,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BEN. Cooper Financial Group lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 14,682 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $437,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the period. Whitener Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Whitener Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,974 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $491,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 25,350 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $623,000 after acquiring an additional 485 shares during the period. Kinneret Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC now owns 22,250 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $628,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares during the period. Finally, Joule Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Joule Financial LLC now owns 10,730 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $264,000 after acquiring an additional 554 shares during the period. 47.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on BEN shares. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $24.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Franklin Resources has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.50.

Franklin Resources Trading Up 1.3 %

Franklin Resources stock traded up $0.33 during trading on Thursday, reaching $25.14. The company had a trading volume of 1,703,095 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,402,134. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 12-month low of $21.88 and a 12-month high of $30.32. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $27.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.06, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92.

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

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.93%. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is 65.26%.

Franklin Resources Company 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.