Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Reduces Stock Holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. reduced its position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 35.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,950 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 6,495 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $242,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Franklin Resources during the fourth quarter worth about $53,676,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Franklin Resources by 263.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,022,055 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $40,744,000 after buying an additional 1,465,148 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its holdings in Franklin Resources by 62.9% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 3,752,326 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $75,928,000 after buying an additional 1,449,210 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Franklin Resources by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,715,809 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $765,254,000 after buying an additional 1,095,373 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC raised its holdings in Franklin Resources by 32.1% during the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 2,923,399 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $59,316,000 after acquiring an additional 709,736 shares during the period. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BEN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.50 to $24.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Franklin Resources presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.86.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of Franklin Resources stock opened at $19.28 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.13 billion, a PE ratio of 29.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.74 and a 12 month high of $28.08. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $20.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.57.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.03. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 4.32% and a return on equity of 9.45%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.65 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is 196.92%.

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.