National Bank of Canada FI Trims Stock Holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

National Bank of Canada FI decreased its holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 47.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 270,211 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 239,147 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI owned 0.05% of Franklin Resources worth $7,914,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 6.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,563,774 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $161,338,000 after purchasing an additional 415,512 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Franklin Resources by 7.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,053,751 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $75,061,000 after acquiring an additional 202,288 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Franklin Resources by 0.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,840,863 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $45,248,000 after acquiring an additional 14,896 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Franklin Resources by 138.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,750,779 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $43,034,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in Franklin Resources by 10.8% during the fourth quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 1,491,598 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $44,435,000 after acquiring an additional 144,843 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Franklin Resources Trading Up 2.8 %

NYSE:BEN opened at $24.14 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $26.19 and a 200 day moving average of $26.35. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.88 and a 52 week high of $30.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.44.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The closed-end fund reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by ($0.01). Franklin Resources had a net margin of 11.09% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The firm had revenue of $2.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.66 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on BEN. StockNews.com cut shares of Franklin Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $29.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $29.00 to $25.50 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.00.

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.