Stifel Financial Corp Sells 1,596 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Stifel Financial Corp decreased its position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 1.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 130,968 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 1,596 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $2,639,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 102,385 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $2,320,000 after acquiring an additional 4,248 shares during the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Resources during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,857,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 381,192 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $7,681,000 after purchasing an additional 32,490 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 valued at $60,421,000 after buying an additional 925,590 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its position in Franklin Resources by 78.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 62,076 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $1,251,000 after buying an additional 27,259 shares during the period. 47.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BEN shares. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $18.50 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $23.75 to $21.25 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.66.

Franklin Resources Trading Down 5.6 %

Shares of BEN opened at $20.14 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $10.55 billion, a PE ratio of 23.42, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.39. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.94 and a 1 year high of $30.32.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Franklin Resources Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.36%. This is a boost from Franklin Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 30th. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio is currently 148.84%.

Insider Transactions at Franklin Resources

In other news, insider Franklin Resources Inc sold 8,467 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.69, for a total transaction of $369,923.23. Following the sale, the insider now owns 51,019 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,229,020.11. This represents 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 accessible through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 24,024 shares of company stock valued at $1,051,375. Corporate insiders own 24.13% of the company’s stock.

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.