Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Boosts Holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN – Get Rating) by 50.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,448,257 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after buying an additional 483,543 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $33,759,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 4.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,072,606 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $951,307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,390,583 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 7.0% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 28,906,180 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $807,062,000 after purchasing an additional 1,890,938 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 0.9% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 8,693,626 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $242,726,000 after purchasing an additional 80,446 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 30.9% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,507,038 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $153,758,000 after purchasing an additional 1,298,729 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 2.3% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 5,018,953 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $140,129,000 after purchasing an additional 111,305 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BEN has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $29.00 to $21.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.88.

Franklin Resources Trading Up 5.2 %

Want More Great Investing Ideas?

Shares of Franklin Resources stock opened at $22.21 on Friday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.24 and a 1 year high of $38.27. The firm has a market cap of $11.07 billion, a PE ratio of 6.61, a PEG ratio of 4.48 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.99. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.49.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 28th. The closed-end fund reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.73 by $0.09. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 20.25% and a return on equity of 17.37%. The business had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.75 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.96 earnings per share. Franklin Resources’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 3.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.29 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 29th. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.22%. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is presently 34.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Franklin Resources

In other Franklin Resources news, insider Franklin Resources Inc acquired 121,568 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $4.40 per share, for a total transaction of $534,899.20. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 616,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,711,456. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Franklin Resources news, insider Franklin Resources Inc acquired 121,568 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 18th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $4.40 per share, for a total transaction of $534,899.20. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 616,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,711,456. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Jed A. Plafker sold 19,166 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.02, for a total transaction of $556,197.32. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 129,101 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,746,511.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders purchased a total of 8,728,270 shares of company stock worth $71,382,706 over the last three months. 23.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Franklin Resources Company Profile

(Get Rating)

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.