CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Has $5.30 Million Position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co cut its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN - Free Report) by 27.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 261,433 shares of the closed-end fund's stock after selling 99,669 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co's holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $5,299,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BEN. Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in Franklin Resources by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 43,687 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $886,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 44.5% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,641 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 505 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 8,789 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $177,000 after acquiring an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. Hardy Reed LLC increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Hardy Reed LLC now owns 16,721 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $339,000 after acquiring an additional 591 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Franklin Resources by 30.2% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 2,604 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 604 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BEN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $21.50 to $19.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $18.96.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Franklin Resources stock traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $18.73. The company had a trading volume of 3,536,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,300,683. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $19.11 and a 200 day moving average of $20.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The firm has a market cap of $9.84 billion, a PE ratio of 28.82, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.36. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a one year low of $16.25 and a one year high of $25.11.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.03. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 4.32%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Franklin Resources's dividend payout ratio is currently 196.92%.

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.