Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN Shares Sold by TD Asset Management Inc

TD Asset Management Inc cut its holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 47.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 56,454 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 51,388 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $1,346,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in Franklin Resources by 55.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 32,101 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $766,000 after acquiring an additional 11,432 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 22.5% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 464,238 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $8,937,000 after buying an additional 85,407 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources during the 1st quarter worth $203,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 81,576 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $1,573,000 after buying an additional 4,530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources during the 1st quarter worth $811,000. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Franklin Resources Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Franklin Resources stock opened at $22.58 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $24.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a twelve month low of $16.25 and a twelve month high of $26.08. The stock has a market cap of $11.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.50.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The closed-end fund reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.03. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 3.73% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.38 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is presently 250.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on BEN shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Franklin Resources in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $26.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Franklin Resources from $23.00 to $20.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $23.83.

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.