Legal & General Group Plc Sells 830,726 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Legal & General Group Plc trimmed its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN - Free Report) by 38.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,318,232 shares of the closed-end fund's stock after selling 830,726 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.25% of Franklin Resources worth $26,747,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 44.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,641 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 505 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Franklin Resources in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Principal Securities Inc. increased its position in Franklin Resources by 561.1% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,957 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 1,661 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 30.2% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 2,604 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 604 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 29.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,677 shares of the closed-end fund's stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 609 shares in the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on BEN. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an "underperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $17.50 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Franklin Resources from $21.50 to $19.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $18.96.

Franklin Resources Trading Up 0.4 %

BEN traded up $0.08 on Thursday, hitting $17.63. The company had a trading volume of 2,802,556 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,343,192. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $19.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.25 and a 12-month high of $25.69. The company has a market cap of $9.26 billion, a PE ratio of 27.12, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.36.

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

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.26%. Franklin Resources's payout ratio is 196.92%.

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.