Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday morning.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on BEN. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Franklin Resources from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 10th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Franklin Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $26.00 price target for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $24.09.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Shares of BEN stock opened at $23.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.47. Franklin Resources has a one year low of $16.25 and a one year high of $26.08. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $22.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.61.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 7th. The closed-end fund reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.17 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 5.98% and a return on equity of 9.12%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Franklin Resources

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 102,708 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $2,376,000 after buying an additional 497 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 12,287 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 531 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 17,150 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $397,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 122,857 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $2,842,000 after purchasing an additional 641 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in Franklin Resources by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 9,354 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $216,000 after buying an additional 671 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

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.