State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Raises Stock Holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 6.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 100,834 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,524 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $2,032,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 22,082 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $621,000 after purchasing an additional 444 shares in the last quarter. Interval Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 108,894 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $2,434,000 after buying an additional 483 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 0.7% during the second quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 88,195 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $1,971,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 2.5% in the second quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. now owns 26,032 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $582,000 after purchasing an additional 644 shares during the period. Finally, Cadence Bank grew its holdings in Franklin Resources by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 234,491 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $6,592,000 after purchasing an additional 670 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Franklin Resources

In other news, insider Franklin Resources Inc sold 7,657 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.90, for a total value of $336,142.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 65,862 shares in the company, valued at $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 SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Charles B. Johnson purchased 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $19.84 per share, for a total transaction of $1,984,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 89,208,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,769,890,529.28. This represents a 0.11 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have purchased 231,600 shares of company stock worth $4,537,637 and have sold 24,024 shares worth $1,051,375. Company insiders own 24.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on BEN. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $19.50 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $19.00 target price (down from $20.00) on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.20.

Franklin Resources Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE BEN opened at $21.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 1.71 and a current ratio of 1.39. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.80. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a one year low of $18.94 and a one year high of $30.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.35 billion, a PE ratio of 25.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.72%. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is 144.19%.

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.