Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) Shares Sold by Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC

Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 290,271 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 5,780 shares during the quarter. Bryn Mawr Capital Management LLC owned about 0.06% of Franklin Resources worth $8,647,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in Franklin Resources by 148.7% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 65,100 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $1,939,000 after buying an additional 38,919 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its stake in Franklin Resources by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 1,491,598 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $44,435,000 after buying an additional 144,843 shares in the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC raised its stake in Franklin Resources by 53.6% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 1,188,199 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $35,396,000 after buying an additional 414,826 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Franklin Resources by 13.0% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 966,212 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $23,749,000 after buying an additional 110,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Mexico Educational Retirement Board raised its stake in Franklin Resources by 7.2% during the third quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 14,873 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $366,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BEN has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Franklin Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $24.00 to $30.00 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Franklin Resources from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Franklin Resources in a report on Thursday, January 4th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Franklin Resources from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.50.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Shares of BEN stock opened at $24.99 on Friday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 12-month low of $21.88 and a 12-month high of $30.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 11.15% and a net margin of 12.30%. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.51 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.52 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.26%.

About Franklin Resources

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.