Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) Stock Holdings Increased by Quantbot Technologies LP

Quantbot Technologies LP raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 73.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 258,044 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after buying an additional 109,196 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $5,200,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 10.5% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,095,390 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $158,582,000 after purchasing an additional 676,760 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,183,950 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $71,171,000 after purchasing an additional 54,063 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 44.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,998,574 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $60,421,000 after purchasing an additional 925,590 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Franklin Resources by 250.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,450,190 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $54,664,000 after purchasing an additional 1,751,587 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC increased its position in Franklin Resources by 22.9% during the third quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 2,213,663 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $44,605,000 after buying an additional 411,931 shares during the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

NYSE:BEN opened at $22.23 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $20.78 and its 200-day moving average is $21.71. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.94 and a 52-week high of $30.32. The company has a market cap of $11.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.85, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.38.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 5.48% and a return on equity of 9.62%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BEN. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Franklin Resources from $23.75 to $21.25 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $18.50 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Franklin Resources currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Franklin Resources news, insider Franklin Resources Inc sold 7,657 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.90, for a total transaction of $336,142.30. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 65,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,891,341.80. This represents a 10.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Charles B. Johnson acquired 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $19.08 per share, with a total value of $1,908,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 89,308,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,704,000,303.36. This represents a 0.11 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 24,024 shares of company stock worth $1,051,375 over the last three months. 24.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.