Assetmark Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Assetmark Inc. cut its position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 25.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,711 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 587 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $35,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 263.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,022,055 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $40,744,000 after buying an additional 1,465,148 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 worth $60,421,000 after buying an additional 925,590 shares during the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 32.1% in the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 2,923,399 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $59,316,000 after buying an additional 709,736 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 2.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,155,516 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $432,730,000 after acquiring an additional 599,045 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 76.7% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 1,290,200 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $25,998,000 after acquiring an additional 560,000 shares during the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of Franklin Resources stock opened at $19.56 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.42. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a one year low of $18.83 and a one year high of $28.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.56.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.03. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 4.32% and a return on equity of 9.45%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. Analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is currently 196.92%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Franklin Resources from $20.50 to $24.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group increased their target price on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Franklin Resources currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.86.

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.