Franklin Financial Services (NASDAQ:FRAF) EVP Steven Butz Sells 1,400 Shares

Franklin Financial Services Corp. (NASDAQ:FRAF) EVP Steven Butz sold 1,400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.73, for a total transaction of $80,822.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 5,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $323,865.30. This represents a 19.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Franklin Financial Services Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of FRAF opened at $57.02 on Tuesday. Franklin Financial Services Corp. has a twelve month low of $33.44 and a twelve month high of $60.00. The company has a market cap of $256.02 million and a P/E ratio of 10.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.65.

Franklin Financial Services (NASDAQ:FRAF) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The company reported $1.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.14. Franklin Financial Services had a net margin of 17.73% and a return on equity of 14.13%. The business had revenue of $23.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.30 million.

Franklin Financial Services Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 1st were paid a $0.34 dividend. This is an increase from Franklin Financial Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.33. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 1st. Franklin Financial Services’s payout ratio is currently 25.47%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FRAF. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new position in Franklin Financial Services during the 1st quarter worth about $133,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Franklin Financial Services in the 1st quarter valued at about $571,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Franklin Financial Services by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 33,474 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after buying an additional 1,202 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Franklin Financial Services in the 1st quarter valued at about $529,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Franklin Financial Services by 109.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 98,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,401,000 after buying an additional 51,407 shares in the last quarter. 24.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on FRAF. Hovde Group increased their target price on shares of Franklin Financial Services from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Franklin Financial Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Franklin Financial Services in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $64.00.

Franklin Financial Services Company Profile

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.