Code Waechter LLC Sells 4,184 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Code Waechter LLC cut its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 9.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 42,272 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 4,184 shares during the quarter. Code Waechter LLC’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $858,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Franklin Resources in the 3rd quarter valued at $880,000. FORA Capital LLC bought a new stake in Franklin Resources during the third quarter valued at $1,857,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Franklin Resources by 9.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 381,192 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $7,681,000 after buying an additional 32,490 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Franklin Resources by 44.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,998,574 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $60,421,000 after acquiring an additional 925,590 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 78.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 62,076 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $1,251,000 after acquiring an additional 27,259 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on BEN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “underperform” rating and set a $19.00 price target (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $18.50 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Franklin Resources currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Franklin Resources news, insider Franklin Resources Inc sold 7,900 shares of Franklin Resources stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.71, for a total value of $345,309.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,519 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,596,245.49. The trade was a 17.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 22.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Franklin Resources Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of Franklin Resources stock opened at $18.95 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.23. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 12-month low of $18.83 and a 12-month high of $28.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $9.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.03, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.41.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 9.62% and a net margin of 5.48%. The company had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.84 earnings per share. Franklin Resources’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.39 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Investors of record on Monday, December 30th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. This is a positive change from Franklin Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.75%. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is currently 148.84%.

Franklin Resources 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.