Kestra Investment Management LLC Takes $360,000 Position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 17,888 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $360,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 13.2% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 282,965 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $7,954,000 after purchasing an additional 33,005 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 1.3% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 71,874 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $1,980,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 113.6% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,712 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $172,000 after buying an additional 4,102 shares during the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS lifted its stake in Franklin Resources by 30.7% in the 2nd quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 52,914 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $1,183,000 after purchasing an additional 12,441 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Resources during the 2nd quarter valued at about $10,418,000. 47.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Franklin Resources Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of BEN opened at $22.60 on Tuesday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a one year low of $18.94 and a one year high of $30.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $20.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The company has a market capitalization of $11.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.38.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 9.62% and a net margin of 5.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $19.50 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com upgraded Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of 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, UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.20.

Insider Transactions at Franklin Resources

In other Franklin Resources news, insider Franklin Resources Inc sold 7,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.71, for a total value of $345,309.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,519 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,596,245.49. This represents a 17.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Charles B. Johnson acquired 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were bought at an average price 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,704,000,303.36. This trade represents a 0.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,024 shares of company stock valued at $1,051,375. Insiders own 24.13% of the company’s stock.

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.