Korea Investment CORP Sells 72,100 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Korea Investment CORP lessened its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 53.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 63,747 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 72,100 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $1,293,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Franklin Resources by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,715,809 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $765,254,000 after acquiring an additional 1,095,373 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $432,730,000 after purchasing an additional 599,045 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $147,312,000 after buying an additional 422,688 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 62.9% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 3,752,326 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $75,928,000 after buying an additional 1,449,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,097,979 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $62,858,000 after buying an additional 99,405 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BEN. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Franklin Resources from $20.50 to $24.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.86.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of Franklin Resources stock opened at $19.29 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $10.13 billion, a PE ratio of 29.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.42. The business has a 50 day moving average of $20.13 and a 200 day moving average of $20.57. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.74 and a 52 week high of $28.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 earnings per share 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 quarter last year, the business posted $0.65 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is presently 196.92%.

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.