Joule Financial LLC Has $296,000 Holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Joule Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 17.9% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,070 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,988 shares during the quarter. Joule Financial LLC’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $296,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BEN. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Franklin Resources in the first quarter valued at approximately $710,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 26.3% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 708,050 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $21,093,000 after purchasing an additional 147,497 shares during the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new position in Franklin Resources during the first quarter worth about $1,538,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Franklin Resources in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,547,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Franklin Resources by 583.8% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 199,225 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $5,600,000 after acquiring an additional 170,089 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Franklin Resources

In other news, major shareholder Charles B. Johnson acquired 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $22.80 per share, with a total value of $4,560,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 88,703,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,022,432,777.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 24.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Franklin Resources Stock Up 4.6 %

BEN traded up $0.90 during trading on Thursday, hitting $20.68. 8,883,648 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,844,367. The stock has a market cap of $10.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.82, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.43. The business’s 50 day moving average is $22.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.55. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.60 and a fifty-two week high of $30.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The closed-end fund reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.09 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 10.24% and a return on equity of 10.60%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on BEN shares. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Franklin Resources from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $23.00 price objective on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Franklin Resources has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.90.

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.