Geode Capital Management LLC Buys 422,688 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN - Free Report) by 6.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,334,601 shares of the closed-end fund's stock after purchasing an additional 422,688 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 1.40% of Franklin Resources worth $147,312,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Franklin Resources by 4.3% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 102,385 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $2,320,000 after purchasing an additional 4,248 shares during the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Franklin Resources in the third quarter valued at $1,857,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 381,192 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $7,681,000 after acquiring an additional 32,490 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 grew 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 worth $1,251,000 after acquiring an additional 27,259 shares during the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BEN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $18.50 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $23.75 to $21.25 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $20.66.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Franklin Resources Inc sold 8,467 shares of Franklin Resources stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.69, for a total transaction of $369,923.23. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 51,019 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,229,020.11. This trade represents a 14.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,024 shares of company stock valued at $1,051,375. Insiders own 24.13% of the company's stock.

Franklin Resources Stock Down 2.6 %

BEN stock traded down $0.56 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $21.34. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,836,028 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,010,781. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $21.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.57. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.94 and a 12 month high of $30.32. The company has a market capitalization of $11.18 billion, a PE ratio of 24.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). Franklin Resources had a net margin of 5.48% and a return on equity of 9.62%. 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 business posted $0.84 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 30th. This is a positive change from Franklin Resources's previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.00%. Franklin Resources's payout ratio is presently 148.84%.

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.