Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) Position Lifted by Independent Advisor Alliance

Independent Advisor Alliance raised its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 71,462 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,128 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $1,440,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in Franklin Resources in the first quarter valued at about $710,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 102,385 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $2,320,000 after acquiring an additional 4,248 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 381,192 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $7,681,000 after acquiring an additional 32,490 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 50.6% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 97,950 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $2,189,000 after acquiring an additional 32,904 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in Franklin Resources by 23.4% during the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 600,623 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $12,103,000 after purchasing an additional 113,976 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BEN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $18.50 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.20.

Insider Activity

In other Franklin Resources news, insider Franklin Resources Inc sold 8,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.69, for a total value of $369,923.23. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 51,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,229,020.11. This represents a 14.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Charles B. Johnson acquired 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $19.08 per share, for a total transaction of $1,908,000.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 89,308,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,704,000,303.36. The trade was a 0.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 24,024 shares of company stock worth $1,051,375 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 24.13% of the company’s stock.

Franklin Resources Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of BEN stock opened at $22.23 on Wednesday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.94 and a 1 year high of $30.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.64 billion, a PE ratio of 25.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $20.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). Franklin Resources had a net margin of 5.48% and a return on equity of 9.62%. The company had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.4 EPS for the current year.

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.