Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Trims Position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio decreased its position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 10.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 103,491 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 11,968 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $2,085,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 4.3% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 102,385 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $2,320,000 after acquiring an additional 4,248 shares in the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC purchased a new position in Franklin Resources in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,857,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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 worth $7,681,000 after purchasing an additional 32,490 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Franklin Resources by 44.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,998,574 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $60,421,000 after buying an additional 925,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 78.3% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 62,076 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $1,251,000 after buying an additional 27,259 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Franklin Resources Inc sold 7,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.71, for a total transaction of $345,309.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,596,245.49. This trade represents a 17.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 24,024 shares of company stock worth $1,051,375 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 24.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $18.50 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Franklin Resources from $23.75 to $21.25 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 30th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.66.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Franklin Resources stock opened at $21.34 on Wednesday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 12-month low of $18.94 and a 12-month high of $30.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $21.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.18 billion, a PE ratio of 24.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.39.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 9.62% and a net margin of 5.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.84 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.39 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.00%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 30th. This is an increase from Franklin Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is 148.84%.

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.