Abundance Wealth Counselors Sells 1,519 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Abundance Wealth Counselors reduced its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 28,915 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 1,519 shares during the period. Abundance Wealth Counselors’ holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $587,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 263.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,022,055 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $40,744,000 after purchasing an additional 1,465,148 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 44.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,998,574 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $60,421,000 after purchasing an additional 925,590 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Franklin Resources by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,155,516 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $432,730,000 after purchasing an additional 599,045 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 76.7% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,290,200 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $25,998,000 after purchasing an additional 560,000 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,334,601 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $147,312,000 after acquiring an additional 422,688 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BEN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective (down previously from $20.00) on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays cut their price objective on Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.18.

Franklin Resources Trading Up 10.3 %

BEN opened at $22.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a one year low of $18.83 and a one year high of $28.61. The company has a market cap of $11.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.84, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.41. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.01.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.03. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 5.48% and a return on equity of 9.62%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.65 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 30th. This is a positive change from Franklin Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.76%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 148.84%.

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.