Franklin's (BEN) July AUM Rises on Higher Equity Assets

Franklin Resources Inc. BEN announced preliminary assets under management (AUM) by its subsidiaries of $752.7 billion for Jul 2017. Results displayed 1.3% rise from $742.8 billion as of Jun 30, 2017. Moreover, the figure inched up 1.7% from the prior-year quarter.

Month-end total equity assets came in at $319.3 billion, up 2.2% from the prior month and 4.6% year over year. Of the total equity assets, around 66.5% were from international sources, while the remaining 33.5% came from the U.S.

Total fixed income assets were $284.8 billion, slightly up from the previous month, but down 2.1% from $290.8 billion recorded in Jul 2016. Overall, tax-free assets accounted for only 25% of the fixed income assets, while the remaining 75% was taxable.

Franklin recorded $142.5 billion in hybrid assets, which was up around 1% from $141.2 billion recorded in the prior month and 3.6% from $137.5 billion recorded in Jul 2016.

Cash management funds were reported at $6.1 billion, up from $6.0 billion in the prior month but down from $6.3 billion recorded as of Jul 2016.

Though the company’s global presence helps it diversify its AUM, regulatory restrictions and sluggish economic recovery might impair growth and escalate costs. Moreover, Franklin is subject to numerous regulations by the U.S. and non-U.S. regulators, which pose concerns to its operations, and may even hurt profitability.

Franklin currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). The company’s stock gained 6.8% over the past six months, underperforming 13.2% growth recorded by the industry it belongs to.

Among others, Woori Bank WF, sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), is worth considering. The company’s shares gained over 41% over the past six months. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the stock increased around 14.9% to $6.31, over the last 30 days, for 2017.

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Among other asset managers, Invesco Ltd. IVZ and Legg Mason Inc. LM are expected to release preliminary AUM results for Jul 2017, later this week.

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