Insider Selling: Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) Insider Sells $336,142.30 in Stock

Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) insider Franklin Resources Inc sold 7,657 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.90, for a total transaction of $336,142.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 65,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,891,341.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Franklin Resources Inc also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, October 18th, Franklin Resources Inc sold 7,900 shares of Franklin Resources stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.71, for a total transaction of $345,309.00.
• On Wednesday, October 16th, Franklin Resources Inc sold 8,467 shares of Franklin Resources stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.69, for a total transaction of $369,923.23.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

NYSE BEN opened at $20.98 on Friday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.94 and a fifty-two week high of $30.32. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $20.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.48. The firm has a market cap of $11.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 1.71.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The closed-end fund reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 10.60% and a net margin of 10.24%. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is 70.86%.

Institutional Trading of Franklin Resources

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Franklin Resources by 11.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,889,477 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $1,008,853,000 after acquiring an additional 3,592,943 shares during the period. Power Corp of Canada boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 18,266.0% during the 1st quarter. Power Corp of Canada now owns 31,557,117 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $887,071,000 after purchasing an additional 31,385,293 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Franklin Resources by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,095,390 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $158,582,000 after buying an additional 676,760 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Franklin Resources by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,183,950 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $71,171,000 after buying an additional 54,063 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 250.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,450,190 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $54,664,000 after buying an additional 1,751,587 shares during the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.73.

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.