Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Has $30.80 Million Holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC trimmed its holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,518,144 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 12,784 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC owned about 0.29% of Franklin Resources worth $30,803,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BEN. Xponance Inc. grew its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 43,687 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $886,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 44.5% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,641 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 505 shares during the period. Hardy Reed LLC increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Hardy Reed LLC now owns 16,721 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $339,000 after acquiring an additional 591 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 30.2% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 2,604 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 604 shares during the period. Finally, SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Franklin Resources by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 19,485 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $393,000 after acquiring an additional 609 shares in the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Franklin Resources from $21.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays lifted their target price on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Franklin Resources from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.50 to $24.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Franklin Resources currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.54.

Franklin Resources Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of BEN stock opened at $17.49 on Friday. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.19 and a 52-week high of $27.55. The stock has a market cap of $9.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.90, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.36. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $20.03 and its 200-day moving average is $20.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.66 and a current ratio of 1.66.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.03. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 4.32%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.65 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.32%. Franklin Resources’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 196.92%.

About Franklin Resources

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.