Franklin Financial Services (NASDAQ:FRAF) Trading Down 0.2% – Should You Sell?

Franklin Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:FRAF) shares were down 0.2% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $61.35 and last traded at $61.95. 19,415 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 37% from the average session volume of 30,976 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.06.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FRAF has been the topic of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Franklin Financial Services in a report on Friday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Franklin Financial Services from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 26th. Finally, Hovde Group boosted their price target on shares of Franklin Financial Services from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Franklin Financial Services currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.00.

Franklin Financial Services Trading Down 0.2%

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market cap of $278.77 million, a P/E ratio of 11.28 and a beta of -0.02.

Franklin Financial Services (NASDAQ:FRAF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The company reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.03. Franklin Financial Services had a return on equity of 14.00% and a net margin of 18.20%.The firm had revenue of $24.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.70 million.

Franklin Financial Services Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th were paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Franklin Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.77%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FRAF. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of Franklin Financial Services by 391,773.0% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 16,125,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $809,504,000 after buying an additional 16,121,459 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Franklin Financial Services during the second quarter worth about $18,311,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Franklin Financial Services by 109.8% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 98,224 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,401,000 after buying an additional 51,407 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in Franklin Financial Services by 64.7% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 75,439 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,853,000 after acquiring an additional 29,637 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in Franklin Financial Services by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 69,681 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,498,000 after acquiring an additional 9,141 shares during the last quarter. 24.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Franklin Financial Services

Franklin Financial Services, Inc (NASDAQ: FRAF) is a U.S.?listed specialty finance company that makes and acquires secured loans, with a focus on asset-based lending and mortgage warehouse financing. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, FFS Investment Company, a Maryland corporation regulated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, Franklin Financial provides revolving lines of credit, term loans and other credit facilities secured primarily by residential and commercial mortgage loans, receivables and inventory.