Biechele Royce Advisors Sells 17,716 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Biechele Royce Advisors reduced its position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 4.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 379,423 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 17,716 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources comprises about 3.5% of Biechele Royce Advisors’ portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Biechele Royce Advisors’ holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $10,666,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BEN. Cooper Financial Group lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 14,682 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $437,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 4.4% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,652 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,129 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $391,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 9,622 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in Franklin Resources by 2.9% during the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 17,500 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $492,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $29.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $25.50 to $23.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.15.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

NYSE:BEN traded up $0.63 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $23.08. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,688,694 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,679,275. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $23.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.77. The stock has a market cap of $12.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.17, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.43. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 12-month low of $21.57 and a 12-month high of $30.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The closed-end fund reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.66 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 11.09% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.61 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.37%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Franklin Resources

In other news, major shareholder Charles B. Johnson purchased 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $22.80 per share, for a total transaction of $4,560,000.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 88,703,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,022,432,777.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 24.13% of the company’s stock.

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.