Does Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) represent a good buying opportunity at the moment? Let’s briefly check the hedge fund sentiment towards the company. Hedge fund firms constantly search out bright intellectuals and highly-experienced employees and throw away millions of dollars on research activities, so it is no wonder why they tend to generate millions in profits each year. It is also true that some hedge fund players fail unconceivably on some occasions, but their stock picks have been generating superior risk-adjusted returns on average over the years.
Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) shares haven’t seen a lot of action during the fourth quarter. Overall, hedge fund sentiment was unchanged. The stock was in 32 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2016. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Brown-Forman Corporation (NYSE:BF), Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (USA) (NYSE:CP), and Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) to gather more data points.
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With all of this in mind, we’re going to take a look at the fresh action encompassing Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN).
Hedge fund activity in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)
Heading into the fourth quarter of 2016, a total of 32 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in this stock, unchanged from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings significantly (or already accumulated large positions).
According to Insider Monkey’s hedge fund database, Jonathon Jacobson’s Highfields Capital Management has the most valuable position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN), worth close to $688.6 million and comprising 6.5% of its total 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Pzena Investment Management, led by Richard S. Pzena, holding a $374.8 million position; the fund has 2.3% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds and institutional investors that hold long positions encompass David Abrams’s Abrams Capital Management, Ric Dillon’s Diamond Hill Capital and Robert Joseph Caruso’s Select Equity Group.
