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

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Franklin Resources Inc. (BEN - Free Report) announced preliminary assets under management (AUM) by its subsidiaries of $744.7 billion for May 2017. Results displayed marginal rise from $741.0 billion as of Apr 30, 2017. Moreover, the figure inched up 1% from the prior-year quarter.

Month-end total equity assets came in at $313.9 billion, slightly up from the prior month, and 3.8% year over year. Of the total equity assets, around 66% were from international sources, while the remaining 34% came from the U.S.

Total fixed income assets were $282.2 billion, slightly up from the previous month, but down 4.1% from $294.3 billion recorded in May 2016. Overall, tax-free assets accounted for only 25% of the fixed income assets, while the remaining 75% was taxable.

Franklin recorded $142.3 billion in hybrid assets, which was slightly up from $141.4 billion recorded in the prior month and 6.0% from $134.3 billion recorded in May 2016.

Cash management funds were reported at $6.3 billion, down from $6.4 billion in the prior month and in line with the figure recorded as of May 2016.

Though the company’s global presence helps it diversify 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 #2 (Buy). The company’s stock gained 7.2% over the past six months, outperforming 6.4% growth recorded by the Zacks categorized Investment Management industry.



Among others, Lazard Ltd. (LAZ - Free Report) carrying a Zacks Rank #2 is worth considering. The company’s shares gained over 5.8% over the past six months. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the stock inched up around 1% to $3.40, over the last 30 days, for 2017.

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

Among other asset managers, Invesco Ltd. (IVZ - Free Report) and Legg Mason Inc. are expected to release preliminary AUM results for May 2017, early next week.

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