Kettle Hill Capital Management LLC Acquires New Shares in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Kettle Hill Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,001,740 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $20,325,000. Franklin Resources comprises approximately 4.4% of Kettle Hill Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Kettle Hill Capital Management LLC owned about 0.19% of Franklin Resources at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BEN. CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 147.1% during the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,238 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 737 shares during the last quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 350.4% during the 4th quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 1,261 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 981 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 505 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Franklin Resources in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 561.1% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,957 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 1,661 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Franklin Resources Stock Up 0.5 %

BEN stock opened at $20.94 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.20. The company has a market cap of $11.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.25 and a fifty-two week high of $24.86.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 2nd. The closed-end fund reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 4.32%. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. Franklin Resources’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BEN. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $17.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. UBS Group raised their price objective on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $21.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.46.

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.