Franklin Resources Q1 Profit Beats Estimates

(RTTNews) - Franklin Resources, Inc. (BEN) on Thursday announced a 17 percent increase in profit attributable to Franklin Resources, on higher revenues boosted by the growth in investment management fees. Earnings per share beat analysts' estimates, while revenues were in line with their view. The company's assets under management increased 12 percent on top of a growth of 17 percent last year.

San Mateo, California-based Franklin Resources recorded net income of $603 million, up from $516.1 million last year. Earnings per share increased 19 percent to $0.96 from $0.81 a year ago. On average, 20 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.93 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Operating revenues for the quarter grew 11 percent to $2.109 billion from $1.901 billion in the year-ago and was in line with analysts consensus of $2.10 billion. Investment management fees grew to $1.373 billion from $1.199 billion in the prior year. Operating expenses increased 7 percent to $1.296 billion.

Total assets under management or AUM were $879.1 billion compared to $781.8 billion in the same period last year. AUM increased 12% year over year, primarily due to $77.3 billion of market appreciation and $24.0 billion of net new flows.

In the pre-market session, BEN is currently trading at $52.56, down $1.04 or 1.94 percent on a volume of 3.86 million shares.