Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) Stock Gets Downgrade from Wall Street Zen

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on BEN. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods began coverage on Franklin Resources in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Evercore reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Friday, July 10th. Barclays reissued a “mixed” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Franklin Resources from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 25th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Franklin Resources from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.89.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

NYSE:BEN opened at $31.66 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $16.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.48, a quick ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. Franklin Resources has a twelve month low of $21.10 and a twelve month high of $36.28. The company has a 50-day moving average of $32.78 and a 200-day moving average of $30.20.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The closed-end fund reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.06. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 8.72% and a return on equity of 11.55%. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.76 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.49 earnings per share. Franklin Resources’s revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Franklin Resources will post 2.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Franklin Resources

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BEN. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its stake in Franklin Resources by 5.3% during the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 18,914 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $587,000 after purchasing an additional 949 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC lifted its stake in Franklin Resources by 31.7% in the third quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 21,525 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $691,000 after buying an additional 5,182 shares during the period. Caldwell Trust Co increased its position in Franklin Resources by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Caldwell Trust Co now owns 3,399 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $109,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the period. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. now owns 33,732 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $1,102,000 after acquiring an additional 1,227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Associated Banc Corp bought a new stake in Franklin Resources during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $549,000. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Franklin Resources Company Profile

Franklin Resources, Inc, operating under the Franklin Templeton name, is a global investment management organization headquartered in San Mateo, California. The company provides investment solutions to individuals, financial professionals, institutions, and other clients worldwide.

Its products and services include mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, separately managed accounts, institutional portfolios, and alternative investment strategies. Through its investment teams and specialist affiliates, Franklin Templeton offers capabilities across equities, fixed income, multi-asset strategies, private markets, real assets, and other areas of asset management.

Franklin Resources was founded in 1947 by Rupert H.