West Oak Capital LLC Has $1.38 Million Stock Holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

West Oak Capital LLC decreased its stake in shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 14.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,645 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 8,295 shares during the quarter. West Oak Capital LLC’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $1,382,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Franklin Resources by 63.4% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 74,206 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $2,072,000 after acquiring an additional 28,795 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Franklin Resources by 24.8% in the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 11,477 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 2,277 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Franklin Resources by 23.5% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 76,665 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $2,140,000 after purchasing an additional 14,580 shares during the period. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 89.2% during the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 36,852 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $1,029,000 after acquiring an additional 17,376 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in Franklin Resources by 4.0% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 489,475 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $13,666,000 after purchasing an additional 18,645 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 47.56% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BEN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Franklin Resources from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Franklin Resources from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $24.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Franklin Resources from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.05.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

NYSE BEN traded up $0.38 on Thursday, hitting $28.01. 527,991 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,438,875. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.88 and a 52 week high of $30.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $27.28 and a 200-day moving average of $26.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market cap of $14.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.40.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its earnings results on Monday, January 29th. The closed-end fund reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.51 billion. Franklin Resources had a return on equity of 11.15% and a net margin of 12.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.51 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is 65.26%.

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.