Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BENGet Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $31.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Franklin Resources from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Evercore reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $35.00 target price on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.44.

Read Our Latest Analysis on BEN

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Franklin Resources stock opened at $35.06 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market cap of $17.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.55. Franklin Resources has a 12-month low of $21.10 and a 12-month high of $36.28.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BENGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.06. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 11.55% and a net margin of 8.72%.The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.76 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.49 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources will post 2.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BEN. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources in the second quarter worth about $961,845,000. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 3,197.1% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 11,054,024 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $367,767,000 after purchasing an additional 10,718,763 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,882,860 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $259,988,000 after purchasing an additional 816,952 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,122,937 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $241,837,000 after purchasing an additional 768,707 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,069,495 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $192,774,000 after purchasing an additional 272,335 shares during the period. 47.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Franklin Resources

(Get Free Report)

Franklin Resources, Inc, doing business as Franklin Templeton, is a global investment management organization that offers a wide range of asset management solutions to institutional and individual investors. The firm’s core focus is on delivering active portfolio management across equities, fixed income, multi-asset strategies and alternative investments. Franklin Templeton’s product lineup includes mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), closed-end funds, separately managed accounts and sub-advisory services designed to meet varying risk-return objectives and income needs.

Founded in 1947 by Rupert H.

Read More

Analyst Recommendations for Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN)

Receive News & Ratings for Franklin Resources Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Franklin Resources and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.