Raymond James Trust N.A. Purchases Shares of 14,952 Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Raymond James Trust N.A. purchased a new position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 14,952 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock, valued at approximately $301,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in Franklin Resources in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Franklin Resources during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Franklin Resources in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Matrix Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Franklin Resources in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources during the 3rd quarter worth $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Franklin Resources

In other news, major shareholder Charles B. Johnson purchased 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $19.08 per share, for a total transaction of $1,908,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,308,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,704,000,303.36. This trade represents a 0.11 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Franklin Resources Inc sold 8,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.69, for a total value of $369,923.23. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 51,019 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,229,020.11. The trade was a 14.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,024 shares of company stock worth $1,051,375 over the last 90 days. 24.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Franklin Resources Trading Up 2.2 %

NYSE BEN opened at $22.70 on Thursday. 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 fifty-two week low of $18.94 and a fifty-two week high of $30.32. The stock has a market cap of $11.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.38. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.72.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Franklin Resources from $23.75 to $21.25 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 30th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $19.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Franklin Resources has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.20.

Franklin Resources Company 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.