Rhumbline Advisers Sells 44,759 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

Rhumbline Advisers lowered its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 634,908 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 44,759 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $15,142,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. raised its holdings in Franklin Resources by 25.2% during the 2nd quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. now owns 6,871 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $164,000 after buying an additional 1,384 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 51.9% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,369,432 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $32,661,000 after acquiring an additional 467,841 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 38.7% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,546,158 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $36,876,000 after purchasing an additional 431,363 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank bought a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources in the second quarter worth about $13,168,000. Finally, Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd purchased a new position in Franklin Resources during the 2nd quarter valued at about $591,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of BEN stock opened at $22.60 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $22.75 and its 200 day moving average is $23.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market cap of $11.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.30, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.49. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.25 and a twelve month high of $26.08.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The closed-end fund reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.10. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 8.76% and a net margin of 3.73%.The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Zacks Research cut Franklin Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Barclays dropped their price target on Franklin Resources from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $26.00 target price on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $23.91.

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.