XTX Topco Ltd Sells 19,729 Shares of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

XTX Topco Ltd reduced its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 48.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,036 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 19,729 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $424,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp increased its stake in Franklin Resources by 2.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 21,155,516 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $432,730,000 after purchasing an additional 599,045 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Franklin Resources by 10.5% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,095,390 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $158,582,000 after purchasing an additional 676,760 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 1.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,183,950 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $71,171,000 after acquiring an additional 54,063 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 44.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,998,574 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $60,421,000 after acquiring an additional 925,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Franklin Resources by 250.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,450,190 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $54,664,000 after acquiring an additional 1,751,587 shares in the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Franklin Resources

In other news, insider Franklin Resources Inc sold 7,657 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.90, for a total value of $336,142.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 65,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,891,341.80. This trade represents a 10.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 24,024 shares of company stock worth $1,051,375 over the last three months. 24.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Franklin Resources Stock Down 0.6 %

BEN opened at $21.97 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $11.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.55, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 1.39. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.94 and a twelve month high of $30.32. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $21.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.60.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 5.48% and a return on equity of 9.62%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Franklin Resources Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 30th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.83%. This is a boost from Franklin Resources’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 30th. Franklin Resources’s payout ratio is presently 148.84%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BEN has been the subject of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $18.50 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Franklin Resources from $19.50 to $22.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Franklin Resources has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.66.

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.