JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has $40.74 Million Stock Holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 263.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,022,055 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,465,148 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 0.39% of Franklin Resources worth $40,744,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Interval Partners LP raised its stake in Franklin Resources by 0.4% during the second quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 108,894 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $2,434,000 after acquiring an additional 483 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 69,585 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $1,402,000 after purchasing an additional 572 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Franklin Resources by 30.2% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 2,604 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 604 shares during the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 3.2% in the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 19,485 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $393,000 after buying an additional 609 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 0.3% during the third quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 322,860 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $6,506,000 after buying an additional 843 shares in the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BEN has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Franklin Resources from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen reduced 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.50 to $22.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.66.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Franklin Resources Inc sold 8,467 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.69, for a total transaction of $369,923.23. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 51,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,229,020.11. This represents a 14.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 24,024 shares of company stock worth $1,051,375 over the last ninety days. 24.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

BEN opened at $20.41 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a current ratio of 1.63. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.94 and a 52 week high of $29.41. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $21.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.69 billion, a PE ratio of 23.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.39.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 5.48% and a return on equity of 9.62%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.27%. 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 payout ratio is presently 144.19%.

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.