Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN Stock Holdings Trimmed by Korea Investment CORP

Korea Investment CORP trimmed its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 94.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,069 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 136,178 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $192,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Consultiva Wealth Management CORP. increased its stake in Franklin Resources by 177.1% during the 2nd quarter. Consultiva Wealth Management CORP. now owns 1,283 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 820 shares during the period. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 49.9% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its holdings in Franklin Resources by 78.3% during the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 3,139 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 1,378 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 80.2% in the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,777 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 1,236 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 245.1% during the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 3,379 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 2,400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BEN. Zacks Research cut Franklin Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $26.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Monday, November 24th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $25.00 to $23.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target 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. 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 data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $23.91.

Franklin Resources Stock Down 0.5%

BEN stock opened at $22.44 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.47. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52-week low of $16.25 and a 52-week high of $26.08. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $22.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.52.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The closed-end fund reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.17 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 5.98% and a return on equity of 9.12%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Company 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.