GAMMA Investing LLC Purchases 725 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 10.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,559 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after acquiring an additional 725 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $153,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 20.3% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 96,312 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $2,153,000 after buying an additional 16,236 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 22.8% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 86,746 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $1,920,000 after purchasing an additional 16,125 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 11.5% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,215,412 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $27,164,000 after purchasing an additional 125,262 shares in the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. grew its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 48,186 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $1,077,000 after buying an additional 1,310 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in Franklin Resources by 1,019.6% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 81,459 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after buying an additional 74,183 shares in the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BEN has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $21.00 to $22.00 in a report on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.73.

Insider Transactions at Franklin Resources

In other Franklin Resources news, insider Franklin Resources Inc sold 8,467 shares of Franklin Resources stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.69, for a total transaction of $369,923.23. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 51,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,229,020.11. The trade was a 14.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 24,024 shares of company stock worth $1,051,375 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 22.90% of the company’s stock.

Franklin Resources Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:BEN opened at $19.78 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.94 and a 12 month high of $29.41. The company has a market cap of $10.36 billion, a PE ratio of 23.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.31.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its 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). The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 9.62% and a net margin of 5.48%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.84 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 30th will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This is an increase from Franklin Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 30th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.47%. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is presently 148.84%.

About Franklin Resources

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.