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

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. decreased its position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 27.4% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 580,431 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 218,574 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $13,843,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted 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 worth $766,000 after buying an additional 11,432 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 15.3% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 102,089 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $1,965,000 after acquiring an additional 13,578 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 12.2% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 847,679 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $16,318,000 after acquiring an additional 91,958 shares in the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Franklin Resources in the second quarter valued at about $271,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in 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 valued at $6,079,000 after purchasing an additional 23,970 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Shares of BEN stock opened at $23.01 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $11.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.12, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.49. The business has a 50 day moving average of $23.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.35. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.25 and a 52 week high of $26.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

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

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on BEN shares. Zacks Research lowered Franklin Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Barclays cut their target price 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, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $23.91.

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.