Summit Trail Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Summit Trail Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 12.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,586 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,256 shares during the period. Summit Trail Advisors LLC’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $262,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BEN. Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Franklin Resources during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Franklin Resources during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Denali Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Franklin Resources during the first quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Trust Co. of Vermont purchased a new position in Franklin Resources during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in Franklin Resources during the first quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jennifer M. Johnson acquired 12,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $19.66 per share, for a total transaction of $249,682.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 2,637,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,857,182. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Franklin Resources news, major shareholder Charles B. Johnson bought 100,000 shares of Franklin Resources stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $19.08 per share, with a total value of $1,908,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,308,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,704,000,303.36. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jennifer M. Johnson bought 12,700 shares of Franklin Resources stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $19.66 per share, for a total transaction of $249,682.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,637,700 shares in the company, valued at $51,857,182. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders purchased 231,600 shares of company stock worth $4,537,637. 24.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on BEN shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $23.00 price target on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $20.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 29th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Barclays started coverage on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.00.

Franklin Resources Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE:BEN opened at $21.03 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $21.36 and a 200 day moving average of $23.35. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.94 and a 52 week high of $30.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.71, a current ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.39.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The closed-end fund reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.03. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 10.60%. The company had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.90%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.86%.

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.