Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN Shares Sold by Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. reduced its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 27.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 580,431 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 218,574 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.11% of Franklin Resources worth $13,843,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BEN. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 315,791 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $6,079,000 after purchasing an additional 23,970 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Franklin Resources by 16.4% during the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 7,340 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $138,000 after buying an additional 1,033 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in Franklin Resources by 8.5% during the first quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 153,026 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $2,946,000 after buying an additional 12,000 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 253.5% in the first quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 55,654 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $1,071,000 after acquiring an additional 39,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 39.4% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,592 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 732 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on BEN shares. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Franklin Resources from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Franklin Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Franklin Resources currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $23.91.

Franklin Resources Stock Up 0.8%

BEN opened at $23.01 on Thursday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.25 and a 1 year high of $26.08. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $23.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 1.55. The company has a market cap of $11.95 billion, a PE ratio of 45.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.49.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The closed-end fund reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.10. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 3.73% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. Franklin Resources’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 140.66%.

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.