New York State Teachers Retirement System Sells 18,885 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 303,975 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 18,885 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.06% of Franklin Resources worth $6,168,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BEN. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Franklin Resources in the 3rd quarter valued at $880,000. FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Franklin Resources in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,857,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 9.3% in 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 buying an additional 32,490 shares during the period. Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 78.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 62,076 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $1,251,000 after buying an additional 27,259 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Franklin Resources by 44.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 925,590 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of BEN stock opened at $20.90 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.66. The company has a market capitalization of $10.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.42. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.76. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a one year low of $18.83 and a one year high of $28.61.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.13%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 196.93%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.86.

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.