Franklin's (BEN) December AUM Up On Higher Equity Assets

Franklin Resources Inc. (NYSE:BEN) has announced preliminary assets under management (AUM) by its subsidiaries of $753.8 billion for December 2017. Results display marginal rise from $753.2 billion recorded as of Nov 30, 2017. However, the figure moved up 4.7% from the prior year.

Month-end total equity assets came in at $321.4 billion, around 1% up from the prior month and 7.7% year over year. Of the total equity assets, around 66% were from international sources, while the remaining 34% came in from the United States.

Total fixed income assets were $283.1 billion, slightly down from the previous month but up around 2.1% from the prior year. Overall, tax-free assets accounted for only 25% of the fixed-income assets, while the remaining 75% was taxable.

Franklin recorded $142.7 billion in hybrid assets, which was down slightly from $142.8 billion recorded in the previous month but up 3.2% from $138.3 billion recorded in December 2016.

Cash management funds were reported at $6.6 billion, up from $6.5 billion recorded in the prior month and $6.2 billion in the year-ago period.

The company’s global footprint is an exceptionally favorable strategic point as its AUM is well diversified. Nevertheless, regulatory restrictions and sluggish economic recovery might mar AUM growth and escalate costs.

Franklin currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Shares of the company have gained around 7.1% in the past year, underperforming 32% growth recorded by the industry.

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

Among other asset managers, Invesco Ltd. (NYSE:IVZ) , T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) and Legg Mason Inc. (NYSE:LM) are expected to release preliminary AUM results for December 2017, later this week.

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