QRG Capital Management Inc. Has $428,000 Stock Holdings in Franklin Resources, Inc. $BEN

QRG Capital Management Inc. trimmed its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 24.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,929 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 5,662 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $428,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 99.1% in the first quarter. Evergreen Quality Fund GP Ltd. now owns 5,237,650 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $100,825,000 after buying an additional 2,607,460 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 20.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,223,369 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $139,040,000 after buying an additional 1,220,419 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Franklin Resources in the first quarter valued at $13,878,000. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 24.5% in the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,889,160 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $36,366,000 after buying an additional 371,562 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 66.6% in the first quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 822,244 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $15,828,000 after buying an additional 328,800 shares in the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective (up from $20.00) on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Monday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Franklin Resources in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $26.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $21.50 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Franklin Resources presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $24.08.

Franklin Resources Stock Performance

Shares of BEN stock opened at $22.65 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $11.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.55 and a current ratio of 1.55. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.25 and a 52 week high of $26.08. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $24.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.56.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The closed-end fund reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.38 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 3.73% and a return on equity of 8.76%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.7%. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is currently 250.98%.

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.